Water - Southern African hearings for communities affected by large dams, Nov.1999

"The story of dams in Africa, like many twentieth century stories, depends on the perceptual lens with which the storyteller views the world. And for the last century, the storytellers have had many things in common. They have mostly been men; they have mostly been educated; they have mostly come from the cities; they have mostly viewed development to be in the national common interest; and they have mostly been paid a high salary which has been linked in some way to serving the needs of that national interest. But there are many other stories that have been murmuring as a faint background noise, throughout the rural areas of Africa - stories that are spoken in many different languages, by women and children, as well as by men, and by those whose education lies in the lay of the land, the flow of the rivers and the cycle of the seasons.

In November 1999, the stories of affected communities were recorded at the Southern African Hearings for Communities affected by Large Dams. These Hearings were hosted by EMG, GEM and IRN in order to ensure that communities directly affected by Large Dams would have an opportunities to share their experiences with the World Commission on Dams. The WCD was at that time half way through through its mandate of evaluating the development effectiveness of large dams. Representatives of the Tonga, Zulu, Basotho, Himba, Swazi, Xhosa and Tswana each told their story.

The Final Declaration of Delegates to the Southern African Hearings for Communities Affected by Large Dams, Cape Town, November 1999

The history of large dams and affected communities in Southern Africa has been one of broken promises and incalculable losses:

• We lost our livelihoods and cannot regain them;
• Our land where we grew food was taken from us and not replaced;
• Our homes were demolished or drowned;
• Our livestock were taken from us;
• We lost control of our natural resources,
• Our wildlife have disappeared;
• Our cultural values, functions and roots have been destroyed;
• Our ancestors’ graves have been buried under deep water, and
• The lives of some of our community and family members were violently taken from us.

Large dams have also caused:

• A decrease in our standard of living,
• A decrease in our level of health,
• Costs for resources we previously used freely,
• Increases in HIV/AIDS, crime and other urban problems, and
• Conflicts in our communities where there once were none.

In our experience, the history of large dams is one of broken promises. Large dams have been built:

• with inadequate community participation,
• with too few jobs going to local people,
• with inadequate education and information dissemination, and,
• with inadequate compensation and resettlement resources, especially land.

We have been forced to move against our will without knowing when or where we would be going, and without a way for our concerns or objections to be heard.

We have not been treated with dignity, nor with respect for our customs, our ancestors or our children. We have shouldered the burden of large dams, but we have enjoyed very few of the benefits. In short, large dams have been devastating to many of our communities.

• To ensure that these past injustices are rectified we urge the following:
• Claims of past injustices should be addressed by Human Rights Commissions where applicable;
• Governments should compensate us for outstanding losses and damages caused by large dams;
• The issue of compensation and reparations for outstanding losses and damages must be addressed by governments, the Commonwealth and the Queen of England for Kariba Dam injustices; and
• An independent institution should be created to address all outstanding claims and broken promises.

To ensure that in the future, communities are treated in a just, equitable and dignified manner we make the following requests:

• Dams must be seen as a means to development, not an end in themselves.
• Affected communities must be allowed to participate as equal partners in the process. This means the following:
  • Communities become "shareholders" of dam projects, resulting in benefits accruing directly to communities through such mechanisms as trust funds;
  • Communities, including end-user communities, are involved in the decision-making process before the decision to build has been made;
  • A process is established to facilitated negotiated agreements on key aspects of projects, including compensation, resettlement and benefit-sharing.

In order to facilitate effective participation of communities in the decision-making and implementation process, and to increase openness and transparency, the following must be done.

• Empower communities, including informing them of their rights;
• Increase the involvement of local and international NGOs and the media;
• Facilitate the development of community committees;
• Strengthen other existing locally based structures;
• Provide capacity building and training programmes, including those related to home construction;
• Make available to the public all project documents, including budgets; and
• Provide funds for community and NGO participation.

In order to ensure that projects are implemented properly and promises are not broken, Government, project authorities and other project developers must take responsibility and enter into binding and enforceable contracts for compensation and resettlement programmes. These contracts must be properly negotiated and agreed upon with affected communities.

Resettlement and compensation issues must be resolved to the satisfaction of communities before construction begins. For ongoing commitments of government, project authorities and other project developers, milestones of progress must be established and sanctions imposed if not met. As long as they continue to stand, dams must be monitored, including dam safety and impacts on community health and sanitation.

Communities must be treated with dignity and respect in the resettlement and compensation process:

• A rigorous and thorough social and environmental impact assessment must be done.
• Families must be kept together.
• Ancestors’ graves must be moved with families.
• Facilities such as health and education must be in place before resettlement begins.
• Land of suitable quality and quantity must be made available.
• Compensation must be adequate and fair, and based on the concept of "a structure for a structure".
• Institutions and processes for making and addressing claims must be created, and community representatives must be part of these institutions.

On the broader level, communities request the following:

• International law must be created to enforce just compensation, resettlement and benefit-sharing.
• An independent body must be created to address future ongoing and future dam issues.
• A moratorium on new dams should be instituted until the World Commission on Dams has published its findings, criteria and standards.