Suchergebnisse

This study examined water struggles and rural people's experiences of waiting in South Africa's Eastern Cape Province. Primarily, it investigated how such struggles connect to people's experiences of waiting for water services. In essence, the study demonstrates how experiences of waiting are profoundly shaped by subjective meanings that the rural people attach to water at a local level. Thus, the study connects rural water politics to contested meanings over natural resources in South Africa's communal areas. The empirical analysis in this study goes beyond the largely urban focus in the focus in the politics of waiting – mainly in the informal settlements, slums and other urban peripheries. The study presents some of the less known struggles of rural dwellers, particularly their experiences of waiting for water service provision from the state. South Africa's Constitution promotes the right to clean water. Despite all the progress made by the democratic government, it is still evident that people in deep rural areas of South Africa are in a very precarious situation when it comes to accessing clean water. The study utilised Auyero (2011) concept of the politics of waiting to examine the poor people's experiences of waiting for water. The study adopted a case study of Lower Didimana village. The researcher conducted a range of qualitative research techniques – the key informant interviews, focus group discussions, observations and semi-structured interviews. The study found that rural residents of South Africa continue to wait for long periods for water service provision in the current democratic era. Moreover, they are still faced with severe challenges of accessing water; as a result, they are left with no better option but to use traditional ways of retrieving water. It also found that there are strong cultural and spiritual claims that rural dwellers attach to water. To them water is not just only a physiological need which could be addressed through efficient state service – the provision of sufficient tap water. Water is deeply connected in human existence. Just like land, water is a cultural as well as spiritual resource. As such, rural experiences of waiting are not limited to state agency and how the poor experience the state, but are also influences by local struggles over meanings of water. Finally, the study reveals the limitation in state policy on water provision, which is locked in a purely engineering use based paradigm, which mainly strives to address (technically) scarcity of drinking water. However, the findings of this study demonstrates that drinking is just one function of water. Although villagers try to mobilise to engage the state while waiting for water service they articulate other claims that connect to diverse water meanings. Such meanings are barely captured in contemporary literature on rural politics of water. As such, although water is increasing becoming scarce in rural South Africa and the state intervention is increasingly demanded, villagers' experiences of waiting in Lower Didimana remain strongly connected to what water means to locals. ; Thesis (MSoc Sci) (Rural Development) -- University of Fort Hare, 2021