Water Governance in Cape Town, South Africa
In 2018, the city of Cape Town, South Africa, was close to the “Day Zero”, requiring all taps to be shut off and citizens to fetch a daily 25 litre per person. Though the day-zero was avoided, it is estimated that, at the current rate, South Africa will experience a 17% water deficit by 2030 if no action is taken to respond to existing trends. Lessons learned during that drought crisis have been valuable for the city to manage the short-term COVID-19 implications and design long-term solutions towards greater water resilience. As a result of a multi-stakeholder policy dialogue involving 100+ stakeholders from the city of Cape Town and South Africa, this report assesses key water risks and governance challenges in Cape Town, and provides policy recommendations towards more effective, efficient and inclusive water management building on the OECD Principles on Water Governance. In particular, the report calls for strengthening integrated basin governance, transparency, integrity, stakeholder engagement, capacities at all levels of government, financial sustainability and for advancing the water allocation reform to better manage trade-offs across multiple users.
Mapping water governance in Cape Town, South Africa
This chapter firstly proposes an institutional mapping of the three-tiered governance system in place in South Africa and describes who does what at national and subnational levels. It thus underlines the fragmentation and complexity of water policy and management in South Africa. It then focuses on the water allocation principles in force in the country, as well as the water supply system in place in Cape Town which involves a variety of stakeholders across sectors and levels of government. As such, the Western Cape Water Supply System also appears fragmented both vertically and horizontally, thus requiring important co‑ordination efforts. Finally, it presents the financing framework for water resources and services management in Cape Town and South Africa which relies on a funding scheme composed of seven elements.