Public-private partnerships in water: a South African perspective on the global debate

Despite widespread consensus on the importance of meeting the basic human rights of all people for safe water and adequate sanitation, the debate on the role of the private sector is loud, and at times destructive. In South Africa the gross inequalities inherited with the end of apartheid in 1994 drive the strategies of the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF). Government policy has deliberately avoided adopting a particular stance on privatization, preferring to focus on the goal rather than the instrument. Nevertheless it has been recognized that a strong public sector is needed. Experience is showing that there are roles for a wide variety of public, private and civil society partners. South Africa could not have achieved what it has since 1994, were it not for a well developed private sector capacity. However, criticism of private sector operation has been noisy. Protest against ʹcommoditizationʹ and pricing of water has been particularly vociferous. In the attempt to enter into dialogue with the critics, the importance of consensus in society has been highlighted. South Africaʹs inequalities are mirrored on a global scale and its experience is thus relevant to the global water policy debate. The involvement of the private sector should not be forced through global agreements such as GATS or loan conditionality, and international finance should put the poor first.