Dr Darlington Mushongera presents at a Water Workshop at the University of Pretoria

On the 20th of April, 2023, GCRO Researcher, Dr. Darlington Mushongera made an appearance the webinar on Water organised by the School of Public Management and Administration at University of Pretoria. The title of his presentation was “Who is who in the Zoo? Bureaucratic structures and the governability of water services in Gauteng”. The presentation was based on Darlington’s PhD work that was completed in 2022. His main message was that water is very precious and we can do without it. However, overly complex institutional setups, bureaucratic inertia, incompetent resource management, insufficient human capacity and a lack of investment funding undermine the effective governance of water services. In this thesis, Darlington used Actor-Network Theory analyses and ethnographic explorations to examine service delivery planning and management in the City of Johannesburg. This approach revealed that there are severe institutional challenges that municipalities in South Africa generally face. Without clearly established duties and responsibilities regarding water resources for all actors involved, including governments, civil society, and the corporate sector, there are likely to be no immediate solutions to the water challenges that currently exists particularly in Gauteng generally and Johannesburg in particular.

Darlington was joined on the panel by Dr Tafadzwa Clementine Maramura, a Senior Lecturer at North-West University. In response to Darlington’s presentation, Tafadzwa remarked that the research was of utmost importance as every player in water fraternity has an important role to play in water governance. She added that water access and delivery are at the core of what municipalities are expected to provide in South Africa, which is not an exception to the rule, and Darlington’s research did a great job in highlighting some of the key challenges that have not been resolved in the sector and affects nearly all municipalities. As a water warrior, Tafadzwa was excited about the research and said that Darlington’s research contain much needed information to support the ARMOUR team, which supports water activists, water warriors, researchers, and implementers to take proactive steps as active citizens in various within areas to force government at all levels to take the water issues seriously. Another respondent from SALGA also echoed the same sentiments.

The Head of School of SPMA at University of Pretoria, confirmed in writing that the staff in the school enjoyed listening to Darlington’s experiences and thanked him for sharing such invaluable information from his research.