The Role of SADC in Transboundary Water Interactions: The Case of the Incomati International River Basin

Southern Africa is a water-scarce region with an inherent climatic variability and uneven distribution of perennial rivers, which limits the economic growth potential of the region and makes water a strategic resource. This puts water under the spotlight and begs the question how South Africa, eSwatini (formerly Swaziland) and Mozambique co-operate in the Incomati river basin despite the challenges confronting them? This article explores how equitable utilisation, sustainable development and information sharing envisaged by the SADC revised water protocol are perceived by the Incomati river basin stakeholders in practice. Through constructivist institutionalism, the article foregrounds agency as an important element to understand transboundary water interactions, arguing that structure and agency are mutually constitutive. This enables a shift from methodological individualism to an appreciation that structure and agency each possess independent analytic qualities that evolve with time. In turn, this produces complex transboundary water interactions that are interconnected through a triad of structure, ideas and agency. The article draws its analysis from 43 interviews conducted with different stakeholders in the Incomati river basin, participatory observations, informal conversations, a review of literature and SADC official documents. Despite various measures in place to promote regional development and integration, power still permeates SADC water governance in a way that affects information sharing and equitable and sustainable water management. Taking power as an explanandum, the article finds that, to a large degree, the constructed transboundary water relations in the Incomati river basin do not acquiesce to structural power. Instead of being passive, stakeholders constantly negotiate and renegotiate ways of governing the shared river based on the context and preferences.