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Transcript of SOUTH AFRICA Social Vulnerability Analysis
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Golder Associates Africa (Pty) LtdReg. No. 2002/007104/07
DURBANCluster Box 29391, MaytimeKwaZulu Natal, South AfricaBlock C, Bellevue Campus5 Bellevue Rd, KloofTel + (27) (0)31 717 2790Fax + (27) (0)31 717 2791http://www.golder.com
Directors : FR Sutherland, AM van Niekerk, SAP Brown, T Greyling, S Manyaka
LOCAL OFFICES IN DURBAN, JOHANNESBURG, PIETERMARITZBURG AND PRETORIAGOLDER COMPANIES LOCATED IN AFRICA, ASIA, AUSTRALASIA, EUROPE, NORTH AMERICA, SOUTH AMERICA
REPORT ON
Social Vulnerability of Amaoti
Report No : 10612
Submitted to:
eThekwini Municipality
DISTRIBUTION:
2 Copies - eThekwini Municipality
1 Copy - Golder Associates Africa (Pty) Ltd Library
January 2009 10612
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
SECTION PAGE
1 INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................42 PERCEPTIONS ON AMAOTI ...................................................................63 SOCIAL VULNERABILITY FRAMEWORK...............................................74 SITUATION ANALYSIS.............................................................................9
4.1 Historical Background ......................................................................... 94.2 Demographics ..................................................................................... 9
4.2.1 Population size...................................................................... 94.2.2 Nature of Houses ..................................................................94.2.3 Sanitation ..............................................................................94.2.4 Employment and Household Income ....................................94.2.5 Healthcare ............................................................................. 9
4.3 Summary of analysis........................................................................... 95 INFRASTRUCTURAL NEEDS..................................................................9
5.1 Roads.................................................................................................. 95.2 Sanitation and Waste Management ....................................................9
6 WATER ISSUES........................................................................................97 WAY FORWARD.......................................................................................98 REFERENCES..........................................................................................9
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TABLES
Table 1: Population breakdown of Amaoti....................................................................................9
Table 2: Nature of houses in various communities........................................................................9
Table 3: Household access to sanitation ........................................................................................9Table 4: Employment breakdown..................................................................................................9Table 5: Indication of savings schemes engaged ...........................................................................9Table 6: Summary of statistics for Amaoti ....................................................................................9
FIGURES
Figure 1: Locality map of eThekwini Municipality, South Africa ................................................5Figure 2: Social Vulnerability Model ............................................................................................8Figure 3: Population density within eThekwini.............................................................................9Figure 4: Owner/Tenant Ratio .......................................................................................................9Figure 5: Ward vulnerability of informal housing within eThekwini............................................9Figure 6: Households with no electricity within eThekwini..........................................................9Figure 7: Ward indication of households with non-flush toilets within eThekwini.......................9Figure 8: Percentage of households with access to toilet sanitation ..............................................9Figure 9: Low income distribution (less than R800/month) in eThekwini....................................9Figure 10: Percentage of government grants received...................................................................9Figure 11: Indication of education level below Grade 7 across eThekwini...................................9Figure 12: Location of Educational Institutions ............................................................................9Figure 13: Location of hospitals and clinics within eThekwini.....................................................9
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1 INTRODUCTION
The Advancing Capacity to support Climate Change Adaptation (ACCCA) project brings
stakeholders and scientific communities of the developing world together to enable and support
effective adaptation decisions to reduce vulnerability to climate change. The ACCCA project drawson lessons learned about communicating climate risk information in clear terms that are relevant to
decision-makers; addressing climate risks and adaptation in an integrated, multidisciplinary way;
emphasizing the importance of engaging stakeholders substantively; and highlighting the long-term
benefits of partnering institutions from scientific and policy communities for understanding and
managing climate change risks. ACCCA is now supporting 19 pilot actions in 17 countries across
Africa and Asia, and aims to achieve the following objectives:
Identify and prioritize climate risks to stakeholders and the climate influenced decisions that they
face;
Assess available knowledge about risks and adaptation opportunities, as well as synthesize the
knowledge in terms that are directly relevant to stakeholder concerns and decision-making needs;
Develop, test and disseminate risk communication materials that are designed to assist adaptation
decisions;
Use the risk communication materials in stakeholder forums to develop recommendations for
climate change adaptation and promote their adoption; and
Identify critical knowledge gaps that impede effective adaptation decisions and design assessment
activities that would generate new knowledge to fill them.
One pilot project is currently underway in Durban, South Africa, where the eThekwini Municipality
has commissioned Golder Associates to meet these objectives. The eThekwini Municipality is located
within the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, as indicated in Figure 1.
Durban experiences a humid sub-tropical climate, and is especially vulnerable to the impacts of
rapidly changing climate dynamics, such as:
Increases in vector borne diseases (such as malaria and cholera);
Increased heat stress;
Increases in the frequency and intensity of floods and droughts;
Changes in the complexity and geographical distribution of plants and animals leading to
biodiversity loss;
Increased infrastructure damage due to extreme weather events with the linked threats to human
safety and well-being and increased insurance costs;
Increased economic losses due to property damage and decreases in tourism revenue;
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muddy due to inadequate stormwater drainages. There is not enough water as some families consist of more
than 10 members. There are not any proper sanitation units people are still using pit toilets.
[Until the initiation of the ground water project] the majority of people did not have access to clean drinking
water. The ground tank project managed to bring more reliable water into the households thus saving them timeand distance. For the elderly, the project was a blessing because previously they had to depend on paying
people money to bring them water.
Some people felt that the Municipality did not take specific challenges facing the community into consideration.
They believed that the Municipality was acting on its interest rather than that of the community. One
interviewee referred to the decision to install ground tanks as a business decision rather than a developmental
one.
The view of the more optimistic part of the community sees the project as an attempt by the Municipality to
develop them and provide a better life. Provision of ground tanks was seen as the beginning of the
developmental journey. Saving water is seen as the main objective of this ground water tank project.
3 SOCIAL VULNERABILITY FRAMEWORK
Research was conducted to establish indicators for social vulnerability, taking into account the five
components of a community; social capital, physical capital, human capital, financial capital and
natural capital. Within each of these components, key indicators were selected that would adequately
detail information regarding the Amaoti community specifically, thus enabling the determination of
its vulnerability. This is summarised in Figure 2.
It is important to bear in mind that informal settlements, such as Amaoti, are not clearly represented
on maps. Rather, the community falls across four different Wards within the Municipality Ward 53,
56, 57 and 59 and thus information gathering can be difficult. The vulnerability of Amaoti was
established in a two step process. Firstly, information for all the Wards within eThekwini was
presented spatially using ArcGIS. This allowed for a comparison to be made between Wards and to
determine which were the most vulnerable. The vulnerability was determined on a percentage basis
for each of the specified criteria (eg. informal structures) for each Ward within the Municipality. This
was done to give a sense of perspective across the Municipality and allowed for specific information
to be seen for Amaoti.
Secondly, information was then gathered directly regarding Amaoti, relying primarily on the Amaoti
Enumeration Report (2005) that was compiled by the eThekwini Municipality and the South Africa
Homeless People Federation. This information compliments the vulnerability status as determined
using ArcGIS and the Ward comparison, providing more detailed and specific information regarding
the Amaoti informal settlement.
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Figure 2: Social Vulnerability Model
Social Physical Human FinWha
institu
placepeople
Howdopeoplespersonallivesinfluencetheirvulnerability?
Whatphysicalinfrastructureisin
place?Howdoesthesocialinfrastructurelenditselftosupportthe
community?
SocialComponents
ConceptualFramework
1. Access to health
care
2. Access to
education
3. Social groups
1. Sanitation
2. Electricity
3. Housing
1. Literacy rate
2. Health status
3. Population
demographics
1. Empl
2. Incom
3. Savin4. Gove
QuantitativeIndicators
SocialVulnerabilityModel
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4 SITUATION ANALYSIS
Amaoti is one of the largest informal settlements in Durban with an area covering approximately
700ha, extending from the Phoenix boundary in the south to the boundary of the North Local
Operational Entity in the east. Being in the extreme east of the wider Inanda area, Amaoti covers fourMunicipal Wards; Ward 53, 56, 57 and 59. Within Amaoti there are 14 communities: Nigeria, Cuba,
Zimbabwe, Palestine, Moscow, Libya, Namibia, Angola, Mozambique, Tanzania, Geneva, Lusaka 1
and Lusaka 2.
Much of the development within Amaoti is informal in its nature, with few local supporting facilities
and amenities, few formal services and mostly informal and unsurfaced access roads with the
exception of the D403. Like many other informal settlements in Durban, Amaoti is densely populated
and is characterised by poor housing, poor sanitation, tenure insecurity and a general lack of other
essential services (Amaoti Enumeration Report, 2005).
4.1 Historical Background
Amaoti, meaning more wood derived its name from the densely forested and uninhabited area that
it used to cover and late in the 19th
Century workers on neighbouring sugar estates would be directed
to fetch firewood there. The history of the area is closely linked to the Inanda Mission Reserve and the
Qadi chieftainship, and until the 1960s, Amaoti remained a quiet, rural place where land was divided
among often prosperous Indian and African freehold farmers and smallholders who were allocated
land by the Qadi Chief or his indunas (Hughes, 1998).
The various communities of Amaoti have grown largely due to the migration of individuals and
families, from areas as far as the Eastern and Western Cape and the Free State, in search of either
employment or secure tenure. Some families have settled in Amaoti after being evicted from other
settlements within Durban. According to the Amaoti Enumeration Report (2005), 13.59% of people
currently living in the area claim to have been evicted, while 66.41% claim to have always lived in the
area. Land in Amaoti is owned predominantly by the State (98.87%) and also by private enterprises
(1.13%). This indicates that the majority of land is State owned, however according to Land Audits, a
large part of land is privately owned, which stands to reveal that most informal settlers build on
private land with the assumption that it is State land. This, however, has not been confirmed and there
have been no project interventions to establish what the exact details concerning this are.
The land in Amaoti is not only used for residential purposes, but for a variety of economic activities
as well, including shops, tuck shops, schools, churches and animal rearing. There is also a community
hall, police station, clinic and other services present in the area, and while public toilets and
communal water taps do exist, it is noted that their numbers are severely insufficient and they do not
meet the need of the community.
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The total population of Amaoti is 31,253 in 13,088 households, dispersed amongst the 14
communities as seen in Table 1. Of this population, 16, 486 are male and 14,767 are female (Amaoti
Enumeration Report, 2005). It is interesting to note that Ward 59 has the highest population density
within eThekwini, Ward 56 the 3rd
, Ward 53 the 5th
and Ward 57 the 27th.
Table 1: Population breakdown of Amaoti
Settlement PopulationTotal number of
HouseholdsAverage persons per
household
Cuba 2438 1290 1.9Zambia 1422 700 2.0Lusaka 1 3821 1166 3.2Lusaka 2 2518 826 3.0Libya 1270 700 1.8Palestine 1569 480 3.2Namibia 3357 1180 2.8Nigeria 2722 966 2.8Angola 2216 1420 1.6Zimbabwe 1584 590 2.8Tanzania 2856 1300 2.2Moscow 1346 590 2.3Geneva 2636 1060 2.5Mozambique 1498 820 1.8Total 31253 13088 2.4
There are on average 2.4 people per household and most of the houses are either one-roomed
structures that accommodate 2 individuals, or three-roomed structures that accommodate 3 or more
people. The communities vary in size, as indicated above, and it has been determined that 62.78% are
structure owners, 37.13% are tenants and 0.09% are landowners, as indicated in Figure 4.
Figure 4: Owner/Tenant Ratio
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The Amaoti Enumeration Report (2005) further indicates that there are 3 categories of tenants within
the settlements. The first form of tenants are those who rent the land from private owners and build
structures on the land, termed structure owner tenants. The second form are those who rent formal
structures termed sub-tenants and the third are backyard sub-tenants who rent the backyard shacks
from the sub-tenants. These backyard shacks are generally built behind the formal structures, thusmost people who are tenants in Amaoti rent structures and not the land.
4.2.2 Nature of Houses
Figure 5 indicates the extent of informal housing within the Municipality, showing areas of high and
low concentration. The red indicates areas of high numbers of informal settlements.
Figure 5: Ward vulnerability of informal housing within eThekwini
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There are a total number of 6,616 informal structures in Amaoti, built of either mud, gum poles, scrap
metal or plastics, thus indicating a high vulnerability to the potential extremes of weather conditions
as predicted to occur through climate change science. There are a further 4,421 formal structures built
of either blocks or stones. The distribution of these settlements across the various communities in
Amaoti is indicated in Table 2.
Table 2: Nature of houses in various communities
SettlementFormal structures
(Blocks/stone)
Mud
structures
Backyard
shacks
Cuba 754 717 663
Zambia 143 359 108
Lusaka 1 366 604 217
Lusaka 2 223 418 173
Libya 248 386 159
Palestine 179 279 487Namibia 396 383 134
Nigeria 155 781 182
Angola 119 394 192
Zimbabwe 223 336 169
Tanzania 369 350 135
Moscow 319 277 179
Geneva 356 341 179
Mozambique 222 198 216
Total 4072 5823 3193
With the high number of informal settlements in Amaoti, there is also a lack of infrastructure with
which to supply electricity. It has been determined that 58% of the community has access to
electricity, although it has been further indicated that this is not necessarily a reliant connection, and
the vulnerability of the community in comparison to other Wards is shown in Figure 6.
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Figure 6: Households with no electricity within eThekwini
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4.2.3 Sanitation
Figure 7 indicates households within eThekwini that do not have access to flush toilets, thus
indicating a high level of vulnerability with sanitation issues.
Figure 7: Ward indication of households with non-flush toilets within eThekwini
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Of the households in Amaoti, 2,758 use communal toilets, 3,458 have their own individual toilets, and
a further 2,723 have no toilets at all. All the communities in Amaoti have inadequate sanitation units,
however the community of Nigeria has the highest number of households without sanitation, as
indicated in Table 3 (Amaoti Enumeration Report, 2005).
Table 3: Household access to sanitation
SettlementCommunal
Toilets
Individual
toiletsNo toilets
Cuba 321 234 127
Zambia 29 168 109
Lusaka 1 374 491 364
Lusaka 2 261 228 331
Libya 103 180 78
Palestine 108 166 157
Namibia 339 301 184Nigeria 251 326 393
Angola 192 166 176
Zimbabwe 149 212 94
Tanzania 323 306 185
Moscow 79 156 89
Geneva 128 308 349
Mozambique 101 216 87
Total 2758 3458 2723
From this information it can be seen that for the whole of Amaoti, 31.39% use communal toilets,38.77% have individual toilets and 29.84% have no toilets. This is shown in Figure 8.
Figure 8: Percentage of households with access to toilet sanitation
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4.2.4 Employment and Household Income
Figure 9 indicates the number of households who earn less than R800/month in income throughout the
Municipality, thus making them vulnerable to financial insecurity.
Figure 9: Low income distribution (less than R800/month) in eThekwini
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According to the Amaoti Enumeration Report (2005), unemployment is a major problem in Amaoti
with 3,664 household heads being unemployed, out of a total 8,715 employable age group, thus
accounting for 44.7% of the adult population. This same report stated that there are 3,419 people who
are formally employed, 878 self-employed and 712 temporarily employed. These figures are indicated
in Table 4.
Table 4: Employment breakdown
Settlement Employed UnemployedTemporary
employedSelf employed
Cuba 276 213 39 87
Zambia 77 115 54 38
Lusaka 1 483 495 140 83
Lusaka 2 411 257 97 39
Libya 122 202 9 14
Palestine 346 319 65 57Namibia 170 178 46 60
Nigeria 371 392 125 86
Angola 142 278 76 45
Zimbabwe 230 253 32 11
Tanzania 270 408 56 75
Moscow 133 149 18 25
Geneva 217 251 107 91
Mozambique 171 154 14 41
Total 3419 3664 878 754
The Enumeration Report further established that the average household income for Amaoti is R1,200,
however this figure is difficult to confirm, considering that many people are daily or weekly wage
earners and their monthly income is an approximation.
Government grants also form a large part of household income, with child, disability, refugee grants;
housing subsidies and pensions being the primary source of income. The Enumeration Report
confirmed that some households rely solely on these grants for their income and have no other means
with which to support themselves. According to the same document, 10.24% of Amaoti receive a
monthly pension, 0.27% receive a housing subsidy, 2.64% receive a disability grant, 25.05% a child
grant and 0.24% a refugee grant. These statistics are represented in Figure 10.
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Figure 10: Percentage of government grants received
Savings are considered to be a crucial element in socio-economic development and a survey was
conducted to determine how many households within Amaoti engage in this process. A total of 885
household heads were interviewed (Amaoti Enumeration Report, 2005) and it was determined that a
large part of the community does engage in savings activities, the figures of which are indicated in
Table 5.
Table 5: Indication of savings schemes engaged
Savings Type Total Number
Bank 110
Stokvel 644
Credit Union 45
Savings Scheme 86
The financial status of the community has a direct correlation to the level of education of its members,
and it is indicated that only 47% of the community has formal education above Grade 7 (see Figure
11). This is further exacerbated by the lack of schools within the area (see Figure 12), particularlyconsidering the high percentage of children within the Amaoti community.
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Figure 11: Indication of education level below Grade 7 across eThekwini
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Figure 12: Location of Educational Institutions
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4.2.5 Healthcare
As already stated, Amaoti is spread across four Wards within eThekwini and it has been determined
that the communities from all four Wards rely on the same public healthcare facilities (see Figure 13).
This includes a local clinic and an occasional mobile clinic that brings medical staff to the AmaotiCommunity Hall in Cuba, primarily for child immunisations. Indication was made in the Enumeration
Report of herbalists and witch doctors within the area, but there was no indication of private or non-
governmental organisations providing health care.
Figure 13: Location of hospitals and clinics within eThekwini
Based on the population dynamics of the Amaoti community it has been recommended that there is a
need for clinics in each of the 14 areas in Amaoti, and a referral hospital that would serve the
community at large (Amaoti Enumeration Report, 2005). There is also a need for pharmacies that
would be able to supply medication for community members, thus ensuring that people would not
have to travel far, particularly when they are ill.
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4.3 Summary of analysis
Based on the information detailed above, the statistics for Amaoti are summarised in Table 6. This
correlates to the vulnerability framework as initially depicted in Figure 2.
Table 6: Summary of statistics for Amaoti
Components AmaotiWard
53
Ward
56
Ward
57
Ward
59
Social Capital
Access to health care (number of clinics) 3 2 4 2 5
Access to education (number of schools) 6 4 5 6 12
Social groups (hall) 2 1 1 1 4
Physical Capital
Sanitation: access to flush toilets 26% 20% 3% 22% 32%
Electricity 58% 55% 69% 57% 54%
Housing: informal structures 51% 48% 65% 67% 45%
Human Capital
Literacy rate (above Grade 7) 47% 47% 48% 47% 49%
Health status: good 43.40%
Population: total 31253 41368 42152 36551 47341
Population: women 47% 52% 53% 53% 52%
Population: children, elderly, disabled (65) 72% 33% 42% 39% 37%
Financial CapitalEmployment (of employable age) 55.29% 31% 23% 28% 31%
Income R1200/month
Savings 18.32%
Government grants 13.57%
Natural Capital
Sports fields 3 4 2 4 3
5 INFRASTRUCTURAL NEEDS
A number of infrastructural needs have been identified within the community, mainly derived from
the assessment of the community as stipulated above. The major infrastructural needs are roads and
improved sanitation and waste management, which will be briefly discussed.
5.1 Roads
According to the Enumeration Report (2005), there were a number of concerns that the community
noted and further suggested that they needed assistance with. From this it was determined that 8.6%
of Amaoti have health problems that they need assistance with, with 1.62% revealing that HIV/AIDSwas a pressing issue. 1.62% need assistance with orphans and other vulnerable children and 2.26%
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need assistance with disabled people. It was further noted that 19.09% needed assistance to maintain
food security, mainly due to the high level of unemployment and lack of government grants.
It has also been established that there is an urgent need for roads in Amaoti, particularly a network of
roads that connects the 14 areas to the main road (D403). The D403 is referred to as the ActivityCorridor in the Amaoti Development Framework (2001).
5.2 Sanitation and Waste Management
The poor sanitation of Amaoti has an effect on health and environmental issues, deteriorating the
status of both and allowing communicable diseases to be more easily spread. Much of the waste from
homes and small tuck shops is currently dumped on the roadside, or any other open spaces, and there
is need for a proper waste management and reticulation system to be established (Amaoti
Enumeration Report, 2005).
6 WATER ISSUES
Access to potable water is a major problem in Amaoti as a whole and the Municipality has been
engaged with a project that has installed public water taps at strategic points within the community.
Due to the rugged terrain of Amaoti, connection of water and sewer reticulation pipes has been
difficult and thus the option of public water points was considered to be more favourable.
In June 2007, Impilo Engcono initiated a project to supply ground water tanks free of charge to
approximately 1 300 households in the Tanzania and Angola section of Amaoti, an investment
totalling R3 million (Khumalo and Blose, 2007). The ground tanks are piped into a system and are
automatically refilled once a day with 200 litres of water. The new ground tank service was installed
in July 2007 with the intent of reducing non-revenue water, and to a significant extent, the project
seems to have drastically reduced both the incidence of general water loss and of illegal connections
(Wilson, 2008). Only 16% of people reported seeing water flowing from taps without being used, and
comment was made water was flowing from malfunctioning leaky taps and tanks of the ground tank
project itself. Only 6% reported seeing water leaking from underground pipes and 14% noted that
people still managed to make illegal connections, significantly lower than reports from other areas
(Wilson, Malakoana and Gounden, 2008).
The University of KwaZulu-Natal conducted a study to determine the satisfaction of the community
with the new ground tank provision through a survey administered to households who were part of the
phase 1 implementation. Out of a total of 240 households, a random sample of 100 households was
selected (Wilson, 2008). Of the people surveyed, only 42% said they were satisfied with their ground
tank service, commensurate with 41% who said that their opinion of eThekwini Water and Sanitation
had improved as a result of the initiative. 45% commented that they were dissatisfied, for reasons that
will be discussed later.
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In terms of the benefits of the ground tanks, three main benefits were identified (Wilson, 2008) and
are:
Water is always available/closer/easier to fetch;
Time is saved; and
Water is saved/ easier to save.
Of these benefits, the report further notes that the main benefits were felt at an individual level and not
at a community level. In fact, community-level benefits were not listed by any respondents and it is
concluded that there needs to be heightened awareness for initiatives such as this.
There were also a range of problems that were associated with the ground tanks, and the top three
were indicated as (Wilson, 2008):
Often not enough water (cut-offs without notification and malfunctioning tanks);
Water quality issues (responses indicated concern over the tank itself not being clean, water
heating up in the tank, and that tanks were ill-designed in term of locking options thus making it
easy for enemies to access household water supply with poison);
Leaky taps and tanks/broken valves/ overflow.
While there is no doubt that the ground tanks have been of benefit to a large majority of the
community, there have also been a number of issues mentioned, as noted above. Of the peopleinterviewed, 40% commented that their tank ran out of water more than once a week and a significant
number commented that there were water cut offs without notification (Wilson, 2008). It was also
noted, however, that 84% of people had begun deploying strategies to conserve water for later use,
such as storing water in containers and reusing rinsing water.
The report further indicates that while the difficulties associated with the ground tanks have been
technical in nature, there are also a number of conceptual issues that require attention. There is
evidence to suggest that the ground tank service requires a significant mindset shift for the people of
Amaoti, and it is not clear that the project has significantly engaged with social implications invoked
by the disruption of fundamental patterns of water use (Wilson, 2008). This point is further stipulated
in a comment made by one of the field workers present during the conduct of this study who
comments (Wilson, 2008):
The community still practices cultural and traditional ceremonies which
require significant use of water: 200 litres is often not enough for such
ceremonies to be undertaken. Amaoti community, though geographically
positioned as part of urban fabric, has its roots firmly on rural background.
The implementation of the ground tank project disregarded this view.
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Furthermore, the same reports comments that there is little evidence that the project fostered a sense
of community or community upliftment, but rather, a large percentage of the community felt they
were beingforcedthrough the ground tank service to assume the costs of benefits that would accrue to
the Municipality and not to the community itself. There was a suspicion that injustices were
embedded in the design of the ground tank project and that the Municipality did not have the bestinterests of the community at heart (Wilson, 2008).
7 WAY FORWARD
This report has demonstrated that the Amaoti community is socially vulnerable to the negative effects
of climate change, and that special care needs to be taken when dealing with the community in
developing adaptation strategies, both from an environmental and a social perspective. While there are
numerous negative factors found within the community, there are also a number of strengths, and
these should be the primary focus when developing interventions. There have been projects initiated
within the community and the lessons learned from them should be taken into account.
The assessment of the Ground Tank Service Project highlights a number of critical suggestions for
further involvement with the community. These are (Wilson, 2008):
Approaches to public engagement need to be re-evaluated so as to increase participation and
communication. This will strengthen the degree of trust with the proposed project;
Emphasis needs to be placed on benefits to individuals, households and the community as a
whole, as opposed to abstract civic goals;
Communicate more effectively the notion of community upliftment; and
Consider specific project initiatives that illustrate concretely the understanding of community
needs and dynamics, while working more closely with the community to ensure that these are
fully understood.
The issue of main concern in Amaoti is that of reliable access to potable water and adaptation
strategies need to be developed to address this. It is proposed that interaction with the community
needs to occur as soon as possible to establish contacts and to determine specifically the possibilities
for adaptation. As a way forward, the following needs to occur:
Create a stakeholder matrix to determine the entities within the community that need to be
involved in developing and implementing the adaptation strategies to ensure that the initiatives
have influential support;
Compile a literature review on potential adaptation strategies;
Conduct a social survey to understand the community more comprehensively, including a detailed
outline of current coping mechanisms found within the community, opinions surrounding possible
adaptation measures that can be implemented;
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Selection of adaptation strategies and avenues within the community where these can be
implemented;
Develop a community theatre intervention that will communicate the adaptation strategies to the
community and allow for opinion, analysis, comment, and general community participation; and
Develop a roll out implementation plan for the eThekwini Municipality.
Contact has been established with various community leaders within Amaoti and plans for further
engagement and underway.
8 REFERENCES
Amaoti Enumeration Report (2005). Amaoti Enumeration and Mobilisation Exercise, A Partnership
between eThekwini Municipality and South Africa Homeless Peoples Federation. Enumeration report
submitted by Project Facilitator on behalf of the eThekwini Municipality Housing Unit, Homeless
Peoples Federation and Amaoti Community, and Community Organisation Urban Resource
Centre/SDI, 25 May 2005.
Khumalo, T and Blose, G. (2007). R3 million Water Project for Amaoti, article written for the
eThekwini Municipality Website The Official Site of the City of Durban.
http://www.durban.gov.za/durban. Accessed 13 January 2009.
Wilson, Z. (2008). Assessment of Customer Satisfaction of FBW Ground Tank Service in Amaoti
Informal Settlement, Section 1. Draft report compiled with research assistance by Sandile Mbatha andNhlanhla Ngema for the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the eThekwini Municipality.
Wilson, Z, Malakoana, M and Gounden, T. (2008). Trusting Consumers: Involving Communities in
Water Service Decision-Making in Durban, South Africa in Water SA, Vol. 34, No 2 (IF: 0:44).
GOLDER ASSOCIATES AFRICA (PTY) LTD
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APPENDIX A