Water commodification and decommodification narratives: pricing and policy debates from Johannesburg to Kyoto to Cancun and back

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Notes

¹ The Economist, “Survey of Water,” July, 2003.

²T. Mbeki, “Address by President Mbeki at the Welcome Ceremony of the W$$D,” Johannesburg, August 25, 2002.

³See several websites (http://www.nu.ac.za/ccs, http://southafrica. indymedia.org and http://www.aidc. org.za) and numerous recent books, by independent leftists, that give a strong flavor of the depth and breadth of the radical critique of the “New” South Africa: M. Legassick, Towards Socialist Democracy (Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press, 2004); P. Bond, Elite Transition (London: Pluto Press and Pietermaritzburg, University of Natal Press, 2004 [2000]); J. Saul, The Next Liberation Struggle (London: Merlin Press, New York: Monthly Review Press, Halifax: Fernwood and Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press, 2004); S. Kimani, ed., The Right to Dissent (Johannesburg: Freedom of Expression Institute, 2003); P. Bond, Against Global Apartheid (Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press and London: Zed, 2003 [2001]); N. Alexander, An Ordinary Country (Pietermaritzburg, University of Natal Press, 2002); S. Jacobs and R. Calland, eds., Thabo Mbeki's World (London, Zed Press and Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press, 2002); G. Hart, Disabling Globalization (Pietermaritzburg, University of Natal Press and Berkeley, University of California Press, 2002); A. Desai, We are the Poors: Community Struggles in Post-apartheid South Africa (New York: Monthly Review, 2002); T. Bell and D. Ntsebeza, Unfinished Business (Cape Town: Red Works and London: Verso, 2001); and H. Marais, South Africa: Limits to Change, Political Economy of Transition (London: Zed Press and Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press, 2000 [1998]),.

⁴D. Harvey, The New Imperialism (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2003).

⁵T. Ngwane, “Interview: Sparks in Soweto,” New Left Review, July-August, 2003. For background on why the large Lesotho dams supplying Johannesburg and access inequality led to a confrontation with government and the World Bank five years earlier, see P. Bond, “Economic Growth, Ecological Modernization, or Environmental Justice?: Conflicting Discourses in Post-Apartheid South Africa,” CNS, 11, 1, March, 2000

⁶For an excellent documentary film version of the W$$D debate see B. Cashdan, Down to Earth: Water, SABC Channel Africa documentary, September 6, 2002. Local issues are covered in P. Bond, Unsustainable South Africa: Environment, Development and Social Protest (Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press and London, Merlin Press, 2002), Chapters Three-Five. Progressive international books on water which link the environment and social issues include Barlow, M. and T. Clarke, Blue Gold: The Battle Against Corporate Theft of the World's Water (Toronto: Stoddard, 2002); Shiva, V., Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution and Profit (Boston: South End Press, 2002); Petrella, R., The Water Manifesto: Arguments for a World Water Contract (London: Zen Books, 2001).

⁷For documentation, see http://www.queensu.c/msp under media, where many of the articles are posted.

⁸P. Bond, ed., Fanon's Warning: A Civil Society Reader on the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Africa World Press and AIDC, 2002).

⁹South African Civil Society Water Caucus, “Press Release,” Pretoria, August 5, 2002.

¹⁰ Johannesburg Star, September 3, 2003. The actual number was probably somewhat lower.

¹¹Social Movements Indaba, “Anti-Privatization Activists Expose Corporate Takeover of W$$D at Waterdome,” Johannesburg, September 3, 2002.

¹²V. Shiva, “Savings Lives or Destroying Lives? World Bank sells Synthetic Soap and Cleanliness to Kerala the Land of Health and Hygiene,” Water Liberation Movement Press Statement, New Delhi, September 17, 2002.

¹³ Johannesburg Star, September 3, 2003.

¹⁴M. Muller, “Water 2003 – What Should be Done: Lessons from Johannesburg and Pointers for the Future,” 2003. Speech given at various international fora, Pretoria, Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. Cites below are from this talk.

¹⁵ Sunday Times, May 12, 2002.

¹⁶P. Bond, “The Neoliberal Roots of South Africa's Cholera Epidemic,” in M. Fort, ed., Globalization and Health (Boston: South End Press, 2004; P. Bond, Cities of Gold, Townships of Coal (Trenton, Africa World Press, 2000), Chapter Four.

¹⁷Bloomberg, March 7, 2003.

¹⁸N. Mathiason, “Left High and Dry by the Water Companies,” The Observer, March 16, 2003.

¹⁹D. Hall, “Water Multinationals in Retreat,” London, Public Services International Research Unit, University of Greenwich, 2003. http://www.psiru.org.

²⁰J. Pauw, “Metered to Death: How a Water Experiment Caused Riots and a Cholera Epidemic,” International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Washington, February 5, 2003. The Nelspruit reports were confirmed by SABC's Special Assignment investigation, on June 24, 2003.

²¹M. Fiil-Flynn, “Report from Kyoto,” e-debate listserve, March 27, 2003.

²² http://www.citizen.org/cmep/Water/humanright, March 20, 2003.

²³International Rivers Network, “Who's Behind the World Water Forums? A Brief Guide to the World Water Mafia,” Berkeley, March, 2003.

²⁴ http://www.web.archive.org/web/*/ http://www.ipwa.org; see also Corporate Europe Observatory “Anti-privatization Wave Sinks Corporate Lobby Group,” Amsterdam, 2003.

²⁵The Bank's analysis of Johannesburg is especially contentious, as it reflects virtually none of the debate and ignores all the inclement problems. The document was released the same week that extreme court injunctions were placed on Soweto Anti-Privatization Forum from participating in the debate over pre-paid meters and shallow sanitation in Phiri township, but international media attention had been trained on these issues for several months beforehand. See http://econ.worldbank.org/wdr/wdr2004/text-30023/For a comprehensive review, see T. Bissell, “Critique of Draft World Development Report 2004,” Washington, DC, Citizens' Network on Essential Services, 2003, http://www.servicesforall.org/html/tools/2004WDR_critique.shtml

²⁶M. Logan, “Multinationals Ride Wave of Water Privatisation,” OneWorld US, February 4, 2003.

²⁷ www.gwpforum.org/gwp/library/WaterReport.pdf

²⁸International Rivers Network, “Some Preliminary Comments on the Camdessus Report,” Berkeley, March 10, 2003.

²⁹Public Services International, “The Report of the World Panel on Financing Water Infrastructure,” Geneva, March 12, 2003.

³⁰K. Asmal, “Report of the World Panel on Financing Infrastructure: Letter to Dr. Margaret Catley-Carson,” Pretoria, April 10, 2003, p. 2.

³¹International Rivers Network, March 10, 2003, op. cit.

³²D. Spicer, “More Resources Expected for African Water Projects,” Engineering News, March 28, 2003.

³³Bond, Unsustainable South Africa, 2002, op. cit., pp. 171–175.

³⁴ Agence France Press, June 2, 2003.

³⁵ http://squat.net/cia/gp/greenpepper.htm, March 26, 2003.

³⁶G. Thomson, “Water Tap Often Shut to South Africa Poor,” New York Times, May 29, 2003.

³⁷R. Kasrils, “South Africans' Water,” New York Times, June 5, 2003.

³⁸R. Kasrils, “Report on Water Cut-offs a Case of Sour Grapes among US Populists,” Sunday Independent, June 8, 2003.

³⁹Kasrils' June 8 article claimed that “the HSRC, which published the report, now says that the claim is not justified by the data. CEO Mark Orkin says that ‘the figure is a misplaced extrapolation by a researcher of an HSRC survey and considerably overestimates the phenomenon’.” According to emails from HSRC sources, this reflected massive pressure placed on Orkin by Muller.

⁴⁰D. Hemson, D. “Rural Poor Play a Role in Water Projects,” Business Day, July 1, 2003.

⁴¹Johannesburg Water (2003), “Your Right to Affordable, Quality Water,” Sowetan, August 27, 2003.

⁴² Mail and Guardian, August 29, 2003.