The construction of community: inscribing and prescribing multiple voices in the upper Berg River Catchment, South Africa

Abstract

This paper looks at the way in which Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), its principles but also the way in which the approach has been interpreted and implemented by water managers, decision-makers and water communities themselves construct and shape interactions, relationships and responsibilities in a very particular way. Using the Berg River and in particular the Berg River Partnership which is located in the Western Cape of South Africa as a case study, this paper examines and problematizes the notion of community (also read stakeholders) and how it emerges within the context of water and an IWRM approach. One of the main tenets of the IWRM process and approach is the inclusions of the local voice, the stakeholders, and particularly "women and the poor". This paper argues that while these are noble and absolutely necessary conditions for the successful implementation of the approach, at the same time these conditions not only prescribes but also inscribes this community and the voices that emerge. Important questions thus arise, such as what kind of inclusivity does this IWRM space create? And does it not create a frequented space for the well-known voices to dominate in an inclusive and thus also justified manner?.