ABOUT SAWC

SOUTH AFRICAN WATER CAUCUS IS A NETWORK OF ORGANISATIONS ADVOCATING FOR EQUITABLE AND JUST USE, PROVISION AND PROTECTION OF WATER SOURCES IN SOUTH AFRICA.

WE ARE ORGANISED AT PROVINCIAL AND LOCAL LEVEL - ENGAGING AND ADVOCATING IN THE WATER SECTOR WITH COMMUNITIES AND GOVERNMENT. WE ARE active in the water sector SINCE we formed shortly after the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development

SAWC has been active since its formation and is recognised by the Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation as a critical voice of representation and engagement in policy and implementation processes. SAWC has worked on issues and processes including national water resource strategy, large dams, regulation measures, water quality, water pricing and tariffs, water and sanitation service delivery, water management devices and cut-offs, river and wetland pollution, NEPAD and The Water Dialogues.

SAWC members have set up provincial groups to include community organisations, and to engage with water issues on at local government level. Provincial caucus groups have been active in UP to 8 provinces.

LATEST NEWS & PUBLICATIONS

featuring Mpumalanga Water Caucus:
▶️BOOKLET: “FOOD FOR PEOPLE, FARMING FOR PLANET - AGROECOLOGY IN SOUTH AFRICA”

featuring Western Cape Water Caucus
▶️BOOKLET: “EVERYDAY STORIES OF CLIMATE CHANGE”

LATEST BLOGS & REPORTS

2023 - media statement: ▶️ “SOUTH AFRICA’S DRIPPING TIME BOMB – THE HAMMANSKRAAL CRISIS, A DROP IN THE OCEAN”

booklet & reports: Community Resilience in Cape Town (CORECT) PROJECT 2019 - 2021

In 2020, the SAWC, in partnership with the Centre for Environmental Rights - Corporate Accountability Programme have pursued an appeal to Department of Water and Sanitation to provide urgent water supply and sanitation facilities to communities identified, in response to the COVID19 health pandemic and economic lockdown.

KEY CORRESPONDENCE:

SAWC STATE OF DWS REPORT 2017

Our Manifesto

Water Caucus membership is open to all civil society organisations who subscribe to thIS Manifesto:

Water and sanitation are human rights. All people are entitled to have access to water to meet their basic human needs, and rural communities are entitled to water for productive use to sustain their livelihoods.
Water management must be accountable to communities at a local level.
We respect the integrity of ecosystems as the basis for all life – both human and nature – with an emphasis on maintaining river ecosystems and groundwater resources.
We reject the commodification and privatisation of water services and sanitation, and water resources.
Further, we reject the role of the USA, the other G8 countries and Trans-National Corporations for their role in pushing privatisation and commodification.
We reject the UN WSSD process and outcomes so far, as nothing more than structural adjustment of the South. We therefore resolve to work together with social movements to realise an alternative vision.
We reject NEPAD and the plans for water in NEPAD as not being sustainable. It is structural adjustment by Africa for Africa. In particular we reject the privatisation of water and the hydropower focus. We commit ourselves to building a mass movement for the reconstruction and sustainable development of Africa.
We undertake to educate and raise awareness and to mobilise communities towards the WSSD.