by Apiwe Mdunyelwa
Transparency and accountability are necessary values for social movement building, especially in the expansive network of various community organisations and stakeholders that SAWC consists of. SAWC uses democratic practices and decision-making processes that govern and protect members’ representation and respective interests.
Democracy in action: SAWC has active members from eight provinces, with each province being represented by two elected coordinating members, from either a community organisation or a non-governmental organisation (NGO). The highest decision-making platform of SAWC is the BGM where all coordinating committee (CC) members meet and discuss arising SAWC matters for the upcoming two years. The BGM also functions as a performance review of the network’s resolutions, a space for strategic campaign planning, and as an electorate for the National Coordinator and administrative team.
Programme and representation: On October 26, we arrived in Polokwane in Limpopo Province, with groups of comrades coming from eight of nine South African provinces. On the following morning, we opened the meeting at 9 am, with comrade Sandile Nombeni, national coordinator from Gauteng Water Caucus (GPWC) guiding us through the agenda for the next few days.
The BGM consisted of delegates elected by their provincial water caucuses, funders from 350.org Africa and South African Climate Action Network (SACAN), and SAWC administrative representatives from Environmental Monitoring Group (EMG) and Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance (VEJA). The room also was relatively gender-balanced, with 60% men and 40% women. To ensure a diverse set of stakeholder engagement, SAWC arranged a meeting with Dr. Gabriel Lekalakala from the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS).
The SAWC Constitution: In 2017, SAWC resolved to restructure itself and reconstitute who was holding space at the national level. Both academics and activists agreed that SAWC should represent more community-based organisations, and be constituted by community members with lived experiences of water stress. Today in 2022, SAWC has successfully transformed into a movement led by community activists, whose interconnected networks of resources transcend provinces and decades of environmental knowledge, production empowers members. An important transition from 2017 has been through capacity building of SAWC members, which has enabled SAWC to be an independent movement.
Sustainable funding: SAWC should be able to do its work in all provinces without being reliant on member organisations only for sustainability. Funding for provincial activities was one of the main emphases of our time in Polokwane. Therefore, it has been essential to capacitate the provinces to be able to find funding opportunities in their networks and regions. Faeza Meyer, CC member from the Western Cape Water Caucus, gave input on the many forms of resources provinces can find and use, that are not strictly financial funds. For example, provinces can use churches, other NGOs, public spaces, etc., as resources for spaces to hold workshops. It became clear that the network structure of SAWC has been constructive for passing resources through the network, as provinces are facing similar issues and challenges. Knowledge sharing remains essential to the efficiency of SAWC.
Role of SAWC Secretariat: In order to have a fully-informed conversation on the role of Secretariat, comrade Samson Mokoena of VEJA explained the history of the role, and how it shifted to EMG in 2017 due to financial constraints. It was noted that there was never any official documentation of what the Secretariat’s role was but the responsibilities were nonetheless taken on, without specific guidelines. In 2020, the Secretariat role shifted to VEJA, but due to recent financial issues since 2020 (War in Ukraine and COVID-19), EMG has played a joint Secretariat role in supporting VEJA and SAWC activities. Therefore, this vote on Secretariat in 2022 was to officially confirm this joint role between EMG + VEJA, and to see how this coordination should be formalised, and how responsibilities should be outlined. VEJA agreed to remain in the Secretariat role until SAWC is able to function independently from any organisation.
Way forward: In conclusion the SAWC BGM collectively agreed that EMG and VEJA resolve to be Joint Secretariat for the following 28 months’ term, until February 2025 (SAWC Constitution 7.2). The CC from all eight provinces was nominated and approved for the term, with support from secretariat organisations.