The politics of establishing catchment management agencies in South Africa: the case of the Breede–Overberg Catchment Management Agency

The Establishment of Catchment Management Agencies in South Africa with Reference to the Flussgebietsgemeinschaft Elbe: Some Practical Considerations

“…Thus the results presented here are drawn not only from the current investigation and conversations but also from past experience and data gathered for other research endeavours (e.g. Meissner and Funke 2014 ;Stuart-Hill and Schulze 2015 ). The approach we followed for the Lessons Learnt project was to conduct face-to-face structured interviews with various stakeholders or role players involved in the establishment process or those that had been part of the process in the past.…”

“…Since the promulgation of the National Water Act in 1998, the implementation of the legislation has been slow and problematic (Funke et al 2007 ;Meissner and Funke 2014 ). These implementation problems also translated in the slow implementation of the envisaged 19 CMAs (Hattingh et al 2004 ;Meissner and Funke 2014 ), with only two CMAs implemented to date, namely, the Breede-Gouritz and the InkomatiUsutu CMAs. In 2012, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) decided to reduce the 19 planned CMAs to nine; the minister approved the establishment of nine CMAs in the newly delineated nine WMAs.…”

“…Decentralisation also rests on the subsidiary principle, which is encapsulated in the South African Constitution (RSA 1996 ). Subsidiarity means that those functions that can be more effectively and effi ciently carried out by lower levels of government should be delegated to the lowest appropriate level (Funke et al 2007 ;Meissner and Funke 2014 ). In this regard, the National Water Act and the Constitution are two structures of rule that are constitutive in the establishment of CMAs.…”

“…The boundaries of these areas are along catchment divides and do not coincide with the administrative boundaries of local and provincial government spheres. At that time, the government contemplated the establishment of 19 CMAs (Meissner and Funke 2014 ), one in each WMA. Since the promulgation of the National Water Act in 1998, the implementation of the legislation has been slow and problematic (Funke et al 2007 ;Meissner and Funke 2014 ).…”

“…At that time, the government contemplated the establishment of 19 CMAs (Meissner and Funke 2014 ), one in each WMA. Since the promulgation of the National Water Act in 1998, the implementation of the legislation has been slow and problematic (Funke et al 2007 ;Meissner and Funke 2014 ). These implementation problems also translated in the slow implementation of the envisaged 19 CMAs (Hattingh et al 2004 ;Meissner and Funke 2014 ), with only two CMAs implemented to date, namely, the Breede-Gouritz and the InkomatiUsutu CMAs.…”