SouthAfrica Water P O L I C Y B R I E F Strengthening citizen voice N o v e m ber 2 0 1 0 and power in the water sector For South Af rica, t he e no r m o us wat e r s e r v ic e s a c hieve m e nt s o f t h e f irst d e cad e - and - a - ha lf o f d e m o c r a c y m ay b e c o m p ro m is e d if m e a s u re s are not f ound swift ly t o c ha ng e t he c ur re nt s up p ly - d r ive n a p pro a c h t o THE WORLD BANK GROUP AFRICA REGION POVERTY REDUCTION & ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT se r vice p rovision. An a p p ro a c h f o c us e d o n a c c o unt a b ilit y t o c iti ze n s would enhance their vo ic e , a nd re s p o ns ib ilit y in s e r v ic e p rov is i o n , a n d reinf orce the p rof o und ly p ro - p o o r int e nt o f s e c t o r p rog r a m s . In 1994, as apartheid drew to a close, one-third ries are poor and most vulnerable to the of South Africa’s population lacked access to impacts of service failures. safe drinking water within a reasonable carry- How did this happen? To meet bold targets ing distance and one-half did not have a toilet for improved access to services, the govern- that supported basic health improvement. As a ment has largely abandoned inclusive result, the government set very ambitious tar- approaches to service planning, delivery, and gets for rapidly improving access to water and oversight, in favor of highly centralized sanitation. For instance, where the UN approaches where citizens’ role is essentially Millennium Development Goals seek to halve passive. An implicit assumption was that stan- the proportion of those without services by dardized approaches to technology choice and 2015, South Africa’s government pledged to service levels would enable economies of scale, eradicate water backlogs as early as 2008 and but practice has proved otherwise. Average sanitation backlogs by 2010. And there has unit costs have increased —more than dou- been no relaxing of delivery schedules. The bling over the past decade—rather than commitment is to provide services in all areas decreasing. And one study argues that this was by 2014, in line with the target date for upgrad- caused in large part because suppliers raised ing informal settlements. their prices, taking advantage of the pressure But an unintended consequence of this on municipalities to meet targets. emphasis on targets for addressing distributive The emphasis in performance monitoring justice is that it has undermined citizens’ and has been on infrastructure delivery and users’ voice and power to shape policies and whether funds assigned have been spent. The hold service providers accountable—in spite of effectiveness of public spending receives inad- the people-centered, inclusive, and democratic equate attention, particularly in relation to vision for the sector. This dimension is essen- infrastructure design, quality of construction, tial to the sustainability of service provision, cost-effectiveness over its full design life, and particularly where the majority of beneficia- service performance on-site. The long-term SOUTH AFRICA STRENGTHENING CITIZEN VOICE AND POWER IN THE WATER SECTOR operating requirements of the new service sanitation, only 56 percent of the population infrastructure have often been overlooked— has full water-born sanitation. This picture particularly for sanitation. A large and growing varies sharply from urban to rural, with the number of VIP toilets are now unusable. And former enjoying far better access. in the urban sector, a recent assessment revealed that in Gauteng, the country’s best The accountability problem resourced province, two-thirds of process con- In searching for ways to improve South Africa’s trollers at wastewater treatment works lack the water and sanitation delivery, it is helpful to skills required for the job they do. Many infra- visualize the complicated process under which 2 structure investment decisions are aggravating public services operate as a triangle with a skills constraints and raising the recurrent long route and a short route (see figure 2). costs of service provision beyond the resources For the long route, there are two legs (citi- available. The result: service failures that com- zens’ voice and the compact), which together promise government’s commitment to service embody the traditional view of how account- improvements. ability for public services emerges in the mod- Far greater transparency and accountability ern state. In this view, citizens elect and are needed around how decisions are made influence their political representatives. These about service improvement options, and far representatives in turn form and lead a gov- closer monitoring is needed of tender pro- ernment to deliver a variety of public services. cesses, project expenditure, and the quality of There is a compact between politicians and service provision. service providers within the state to do so. If it What is the current water and sanitation sit- does so poorly, the citizens will vote the politi- uation for South Africa? Nearly half of all cians out of power, and hence the politicians, South Africans have an in-house water supply, the theory goes, have a strong incentive to while a quarter have a water connection reticu- hold public servants accountable for services. lated to their yard (figure 1). About 20 percent The reality, however, is that the long route, source their water from a communal standpipe by itself, is rarely enough to deliver service to within 200 meters—the supply standard for a the poor. It needs a complementary mecha- basic level of service—and an estimated 4 per- nism: the short route, which focuses on the cent lack access to an improved supply. As for direct interaction between the citizens and the Access to water and sanitation in South Africa, 2008 Figure 1 Access to water Access to sanitation VIP toilet 8% Chemical toilet 2% Bucket toilet 1% Yard tap 23% House tap Own arrangement 48% below RDP Flush toilet 27% 58% Standpipe 20% Other Unclear 5% 4% Unserved 4%   Accountability mechanisms must be local, where problems are felt and Figure   in public services where immediate intervention is usually 2 Politicians/ policymakers required. So what can be done to remedy the situation? First, strengthen citizens’ voice and power. One ’ ice ns co vo ize Th pa m t e ct way to do this is by dedicating significant Ci resources in every municipality to building Citizens Citizen and Services public understanding of how water and sanita- user power 3 and users providers tion services work, and helping citizens under- stand their rights, entitlements, roles, and shared responsibilities. In turn, the municipal- ities and providers should become better service providers. When services are delivered, informed about citizens’ needs and perspec- the citizens should be able to exercise various tives. degrees of influence over the service provid- Ethekwini Metro, the municipal area serv- ers, which we call “client power” or “user ing the big port city of Durban, is an example power.” of a municipality that has been working to The problem in South Africa is that policy improve public understanding of water ser- and legislation have focused on the require- vices for many years, using street theater, ments for accountability between government house visits, school programs, and pamphlets and service providers (the compact) rather to educate users about the vulnerabilities of than that between citizens and service provid- sewered sanitation and their rights and respon- ers (client power) and between citizens and sibilities. The comprehensive public education their political representatives (citizen’s voice). program is resource intensive, but Metro offi- Since water and sanitation were municipal cials can prove conclusively that the benefits responsibilities, this involved focusing on the far outweigh the costs, with the program accountability relationships between different reducing overall maintenance expenditures. spheres of government, and between munici- Another tool is user platforms, which palities and service providers. involve the ward councilor, interested citizens, In addition, the targets track only outputs, and representatives of the service provider. It not outcomes. Technology choices and imple- can build a relationship between service pro- mentation options have been limited. Users viders and citizens that goes beyond the complain that they are not even consulted monthly service bill. The City of Cape Town about where on their plot their new toilet will set up such user platforms in several town- be put. And there has been virtually no accom- ships, following a 2006 “Citizens’ Voice” pilot modation of the needs of people with disabili- program, which was aimed at exploring par- ties or constr uction of w ider toilet ticipatory mechanisms to strengthen national top-structures to enable caregivers to assist regulation. The result has been better those who are sick. The extremely high preva- informed citizens and users and an improved lence of HIV infection in South Africa adds dialogue with city officials. In 2008 Ethekwini particular urgency to improving water and and Ekhurleni Metros began building on Cape sanitation services. Town’s experience with their own Citizens’ Voice process, and others, like Msunduzi, are Policy recommendations following suit. One challenge will be to ensure Accountability must be rooted locally, on the that the approach’s potential is not compro- ground, and at the interface among citizens, mised by an emphasis on scaling up too rap- service providers and elected representatives. idly without first ensuring that the solid Citizens should have recourse through the reg- foundations of public education are in place to ulator, but primary engagement and response build trust. SOUTH AFRICA STRENGTHENING CITIZEN VOICE AND POWER IN THE WATER SECTOR In addition, citizens’ report cards—piloted performance is often poor. The current reli- in Ethekwini—can be used to better inform ance on under-skilled local operators and sector regulation. Sector regulation is only as remote technical support disempowers both effective as the information made available to citizens and the operator. This calls for use of it allows, and both water service authorities locally accountable operators and O&M crews and water service providers have a strong to augment service provision capacity. There SouthAfrica incentive to disguise poor performance. is a lot of scope for greater use of service part- Current monitoring and evaluation systems nerships with locally based small or medium are improving across the sector, but off a very enterprises and community based organiza- low base. There is a vital role for citizens to tions—particularly in rural areas where make monitoring and other information avail- municipal service providers struggle to pro- able to the regulator to buttress the regulator’s vide the needed support and management effectiveness. oversight. Alignment of settlement-level struc- tures with the municipal service provision Second, strengthen the compact within the govern- framework could also be considered to hold ment and its service providers. This can be done service providers to account locally. Operators by introducing regulations to make perfor- would be employed by the water service pro- mance contracts mandatory between all Water vider or its agent, but the local structure would Ser vices Authorities and their Ser vice sh a r e m a n a gement a nd over s i ght Providers, irrespective of whether the water responsibility. service provider is the internal technical department of the municipal or an external Fourth, strengthen efficient, economic, and effec- service provider. The current exemption of tive resource use. This can be done by including Water Boards from competitive tendering a greater emphasis on sound asset manage- needs to be reviewed. Citizens are entitled to ment, along with conditionalities in the provi- fair and transparent assessment of all contend- sion of grant funding—which would provide ing service providers. Section 78 of the incentives for municipalities to explore other Municipal Systems Act could be revised to pro- technologies that are more cost-effective and mote a more balanced, rigorous, and consis- sustainable. This would include experiment- tent assessment of provider options. The ing with models that put purchasing power current phased approach is inherently biased directly in the hands of citizens. For example, toward retaining existing internal arrange- a voucher system could channel part of the ments, even if they are not necessarily the most grant directly to citizens, enabling them to effective or best able to serve the poor. Finally, choose their toilet type. There is wide scope to water services institutions could be required to explore instruments that will reward munici- use qualified personnel to take management palities for good asset management, for exam- responsibility for the provision of water supply ple by providing Municipal Infrastructure and sanitation services, together with estab- Grants above a basic threshold only to munici- lishment of certified water services managers palities that demonstrate good asset manage- with the minimum qualifications established ment practice. Financial ring-fencing of under the National Qualifications Framework. municipal water services could be made man- datory in every municipality within five years. Third, promote alternative models of service pro- Economic regulation of water services is not vision in remote rural areas. Most Water Boards feasible without reliable information on water have little experience in managing services in services income and expenditure for each low-income communities, and their financial municipality.