In my third post, I talked about pivotal and impacted states/basins in addition to South Africa’s hydro-hegemony. This post carries on from that week. Today, South Africa's megalomania of transboundary waters can still be seen in its thirst for large-dam securitisation at 539 (globally ranked 11th), propelled by its high evapotranspiration and variable rainfall (Earle 2005). Whilst climate change and increasing population herald for more, this is no panacea to water provision. LHWP provides example. Agreed in the 1986 treaty, LHWP “diverts river flow from the Orange-Senqu River source in Lesotho’s Highlands through a system of dams and tunnels to Vaal River basin in Gauteng, South Africa” (Taylor 2004: 19). World Bank donors and South Africa largely financed the costly transboundary hydroelectric/water-transfer project, but as it relies on gravity to transport water it has low operational costs (Earle and Turton 2003). The completed first phase supplies 0.5 km3/yr of water to South Africa, while providing Lesotho monthly capital and when finished, self-sufficient hydroelectricity (Earle and Turton 2003; Taylor 2004).
However, its
development has many controversies. Constructing
“the Katse Dam moved 24,000 people from their farmlands and access to communal
grazing” (Taylor 2004: 19). It is impossible to justly compensate this governmental ‘land grabbing’ because different users place different values on
it (i.e. sacred/ethnically contested) and thus cannot be accurately converted
for another (Wolf 1999). Earle (2005) suggests LHWP’s second
phase was delayed somewhat because of the regional HIV/AIDs pandemic. Similarly,
Dr. Thompson emailed us a current article about African dams increasing malaria
incidences (EurekAlert 2015). Who then takes responsibility on dealing with
these adverse transboundary consequences? Which state? Which community? If
anything, this should highlight to South Africa how destabilising its policy of
securitisation is for its socio-economic development if its population are too
sick/vulnerable to work and contribute to society. Not to mention the environmental
impacts of altered
stream-flow downstream by dam storage and methane emissions from reservoirs (Taylor
2004; Kitissou 2007).
Furthermore, Southern
African Power Pool – common (hydro)electric power grid within SADC – highlights
similar issues. Nearly all interconnections run through South Africa, contributing
the highest capacity (80%) to the generation mix: two key factors that sustain
it (Musaba 2010). This locks South Africa’s neighbouring states into its
hegemonic control, amassing all the development for itself and a regional
core-periphery model (dependency). However, South Africa’s “short term gains
accrued through” cycles of securitisation “could prove self-destructive in the
long-term” (Van der Zaag 2005: 869). Check out the documentary below for the grievances behind it and how it has affected the poor, local community.
References
Earle, A.
(2005)
“Hydropolitics in Southern Africa: What is the
Prognosis for Peaceful Development of Shared Watercourses?” [WWW], Pretoria:
African Water Issues Research Unit, University of Pretoria (https://www.unsiegen.de/zew/publikationen/volume0305/
earle.pdf; 10 Jan 2016).
Earle, A.
and A.R. Turton (2003) “The Virtual Water Trade amongst countries of the SADC”,
in A.Y. Hoekstra (ed.) Virtual Water
Trade: Proceedings of the International Expert Meeting on Virtual Water Trade,
Delft: IHE Delft, 183-200.
EurekAlert
(2015) “African dams linked to over 1 million malaria cases annually” [WWW],
N/A: AAAS (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-09/bc-adl091015.php; 10
Jan 2016).
Kitissou, M.
(2007) “Water in the Context of Africa: Geopolitics and Geo-economics”, in M.
Kitissou, M. Ndulo, M. Nagel and M. Grieco (eds) The Hydropolitics of Africa: A Contemporary Challenge, Newcastle:
Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 1-18.
Musaba, L. (2010) “The Southern African
Power Pool” [WWW], N/A: SAPP (http://www.sari
energy.org/PageFiles/What_We_Do/activities/sapp_eev_feb_2010/Presentations/Feb_14/Overview_of_the_SAPP.pdf;
12 Jan 2016).
Taylor, R.G.
(2004) “Water Resources and Development Challenges in Eastern and Southern
Africa”, In T. Bowyer-Bower and D. Potts (eds) East and Southern Africa: Regional Development Text, RGS-IBG Developing Areas Research Group,
London: Addison-Wesley Longman, Chapter 8.
Van der
Zaag, P. (2005) “Integrated Water Resources Management: Relevant Concept or
Irrelevant Buzzword? A Capacity Building and Research Agenda for Southern
Africa”, Physics and Chemistry of the
Earth, 30, 867-871.
Wolf, A.T.
(1999) “Criteria for Equitable Allocations: The Heart of International Water
Conflict”, Natural Resources Forum,
23, 3-15.
