Johann Tempelhoff

Rhetoric or action: Are South African municipalities planning for climate change?

In 2008 the South African National Disaster Management Centre commissioned a study into measures taken by local municipalities to plan for climate change. Two areas were selected for their dissimilar climatic challenges: the //Khara Hais Municipality,1 a semi-desert area in the Northern Cape Province plagued by droughts and severe weather events, and the George Municipality, an area in the Western Cape Province plagued by droughts, the rising sea level and flash floods. It was found that despite South African laws and regulations requiring local government to take action to reduce the risk of disasters, planning for climate change is still no more than sophisticated rhetoric in the two municipalities. This lack of urgency can be ascribed to local municipalities having other more pressing developmental priorities. It would, however, be short-sighted of municipalities not to plan for climate change, as major setbacks in hard-won economic and social development follow a disaster. 1The // spelling represents the click consonant in the Kxoe language that the name comes from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki///Khara_Hais_Local_Municipality

The 2012 acid mine drainage (AMD) crisis in Carolina's municipal water supply

ABSTRACT There are growing concerns in South Africa about the threat that acid mine drainage (AMD) poses to local natural water resources in many of the countrys mining areas. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the toxic water has been responsible for pollution in parts of the country. Government and operators in the countrys water sector have actively been working in recent years at addressing the problem. This article deals with a contemporary history of an AMD crisis in the coalmining town of Carolina, in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa, and explains how the matter was eventually resolved. The discourse focuses on how people of Carolina responded to the contamination of the municipalitys water supply system and eventually chose to follow the path of active protest. The water crisis even made a detour to the high court, with a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) actively supporting the cause of local residents. Although by September 2012 the towns water supply was restored, the community remained distrustful of the local authoritys ability to secure a consistent supply of good quality water. The authorities took some measures to restore trust. People had been traumatised and sound relations had to be restored in the aftermath of the crisis. The Carolina crisis of 2012 is contemplated from the perspective of the current threat that AMD poses to South Africas finite water resources and the danger of mining in sensitive areas.

Historical Perspectives on Pre-Colonial Irrigation in Southern Africa

Abstract One of the basic areas of interaction between water as natural resource and human societies as agents of cultural transformation is the technology of irrigation. In Africa at least 66 per cent of the available water is used for purposes of irrigation. For more than 4 000 years irrigation has secured food supplies for humans on a continent that is noted for its relative shortage of sufficient natural water supplies. There is a remarkable hidden power of water in the history of southern Africa. This is particularly the case when we consider the development of early irrigation technologies of Iron Age farmers. The small irrigation furrow of the subsistence farmer was just as important to an insular community of Bantu-speaking people in pre-colonial times, as is the sophisticated irrigation technology in present-day South Africa. Currently there is a paucity of information about pre-colonial indigenous irrigation technology. This can be ascribed to a number of factors of which the invasion of modern Western traditions in the nineteenth century is perhaps the most important. A number of other factors for the apparent blind-spot is also presented in this study. In southern Africa there are traces of indigenous pre-colonial irrigation works at sites such as Nyanga in Zimbabwe; the Limpopo River Valley; Mpumalanga; and South Africas eastern Highveld. Reference is also made in this article to specific strategies of irrigation used by Iron Age communities, prior to the advent of a colonial presence. Finally, attention is also drawn to pre-colonial land tenure and state formation against the backdrop of Wittfogels theories on hydraulic society.

Geohydrological issues of importance in the area governed by the Delmas local municipality

The constraints that have been experienced in recent years with the Delmas water supply have largely been as a result of it being situated in a dolomite area, the environmental reality which, from a human and economic standpoint, seems to be a definite drawback. Previous reports on diarrhoea outbreaks in the Delmas area (1993, 2005 and 2007) have consistently noted a groundwater contamination of the A well fields groundwater abstraction boreholes. While water contamination certainly had a role to play in the diarrhoea outbreaks, there were other contributing environmental factors. Amongst these were the physical environment has been severely polluted and significant interventions in environmental elements, such as local surface water streams, that were recorded during the research process. The nature and extent of water (raw, potable and waste) management in and by the Delmas Local Municipality will be the focus of this article, and certain significant geohydrological issues to consider in the achievement of effective municipal governance will be debated. Recommendations on the possible improvement of the municipal water services management in and by the Municipality will form part of the debate and may serve as pointers for improving the governance, by local governments, of the geohydrological realities that cause constraints in their various areas of responsibility. These outcomes may also find an application in other similarly problematic municipal areas.

The Water Act, No. 54 of 1956 and the first phase of apartheid in South Africa (1948–1960)

After the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910 the government department responsible for water governance, in terms of the Irrigation and Conservation of Water Act, No. 8 of 1912 went by the name of the Department of Irrigation. In 1956, when the Water Act, No. 54 of 1956, was passed its name changed to the Department of Water Affairs. The new legislation marked the beginning of a new era in South Africa’s water governance. The focus of the department shifted from irrigation infrastructure and bulk water governance responsibilities, to make an important contribution to the country’s social and economic development. Priorities of the day included the need for more comprehensive water infrastructure for industrial development; the greater demand for water in the country’s rapidly growing urban areas; and taking steps against the increasing threat of water pollution. In this paper the focus is on the way the department, in terms of the Water Act of 1956, responded to the policy of separate development (apartheid), but at the same time took a deeper and long-term view of the development of water infrastructure to be of value for the country and its people, beyond the shorter temporal view of the political leaders of the day. The period 1948–1960 can be seen as the first phase of apartheid (1948–1960). It was notable for the initial emergence of significant opposition amongst the country’s indigenous African people to the white minority government’s apartheid policies, but their struggle was subdued. This phase came to an end at a time when the rest of Africa was engaged in rapid decolonisation and South Africa became politically ostracised in the international arena. What is apparent is that the emergent hydraulic mission of industrialisation promoted unsurpassed development that was destined to have a marked effect on South Africa’s status as a modern state on the African continent.

The application of a resilience assessment approach to promote campus environmental management: A South African case study

Purpose – This paper aims to outline the benefits of using resilience assessment instead of command and control mechanisms to evaluate sustainable campus environments. Design/methodology/approach – An exploratory mixed-method design was followed for the purposes of the project. During the first qualitative phase, a historical timeline of the focal system was created. In the quantitative phase, the resilience assessment guided the investigation. To collect data, the case study research strategy included a heuristic process of collecting and reviewing documents, semi-structured interviews, observations and the systematic implementation of the resilience assessment approach. Findings – Based on the resilience assessment approach, it is argued that the environmental status of university campuses can be considered relevant to the local community and immediate environment. Knowledge of the finite resources and their capacity in the context of the social-ecological system may increase the resilience of a campus....