Abstract
This paper focuses on the ways in which activism is undermined in the water and sanitation wars in South Africa. The paper
extends previous work that has focused on the politics of water and sanitation in South Africa and is based on an analysis of
talk between activists and stakeholders in a television debate. It attempts to make two arguments. First, activists who disrupt
powerful discourses of active citizenship struggle to highlight water and sanitation injustices without their actions being
individualised and party politicised. Second, in an attempt to claim a space for new social movements, activists paradoxically
draw on common sense accounts of race, class, geography, dignity and democracy that may limit activism. The implications
for water and sanitation activism and future research are discussed.