Abstract
This study set out to investigate forms of expression in the context of Madibeng Local Municipality hydropolitics, paying particular attention to Damonsville, Mothutlung and Mmakau. Madibeng was an ideal location for this study because there is evidence that the local municipality has been struggling to provide water services. This has culminated in toyi-toying – one form of expression. I adopted a qualitative research methodology underpinned by a social constructionist epistemology. The primary data collection method was in-depth interviews supplemented by observation, field notes (journal entries) and photography. I selected twenty-seven participants purposively. Major findings point to the fact that the participants viewed water services as grossly inadequate – they indicated that their communities experienced rampant and prolonged water interruptions and poor water quality. They perceived the municipality officials as contributing to poor water service delivery through corruption and financial mismanagement of the local municipality. Water infrastructure in the community was noted to be worn and obsolete. In addition to this, I found that some participants held the view that citizenship spaces in the communities were on the decline: politicians highjacked community meetings, there was a rise in gangsterism, and some community members contested “good citizenship” practices like paying for water. While some community members favoured toyi-toying, a constitutional right, others did not, in fear of getting hurt, or worse, dying. From the findings, I make three contributions to the body of knowledge: first, I provide a broadened definition of hydropolitics which moves beyond the macro-level to also include water politics as transpiring on meso and micro-levels; second, I contribute to the literature on citizenship and hydropolitics by giving an account of Madibeng hydropolitics paying attention to the experiences of Damonsville, Mothutlung and Mmakau residents; third, I present how the “new” South Africa is for some participants viewed as an exclusionary space as they withdraw from expression due to fear, coercion or duress, and coin the term disengaged citizenship to describe this social phenomenon.
Ph.D. (Sociology)