An analysis of stakeholder knowledge about water governance transformation in Zimbabwe Krasposy Kujinga a, * , Lewis Jonker b a Department of Sociology, University of Zimbabwe, P.O. Box MP167 Mt Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe b Integrated Water Resources Management Department, University of the Western Cape, South Africa Abstract In the early 1990s, Zimbabwe embarked on a process of water reform which culminated in the enactment of the 1998 Water Act [Chapter 20:24]. The 1998 water act emphasizes stakeholder participation in water utilization and management. The process which led to the promulgation of the 1998 Water Act was supposed to involve the participation and consultation of all the groups of stake- holders. This was going to make the majority of the stakeholders become aware of the water governance transformation and the pro- visions of the new legislation. This article thus explores stakeholder knowledge about the water governance transformation in Zimbabwe. It presents data collected from the Middle Manyame Subcatchment area which falls under the Manyame Catchment Council (CC). The paper shows that the majority of the stakeholders in the study area in general and those from the agricultural sector in particular do not have much knowledge about the 1998 Water Act, Subcatchment Councils (SCCs) and CCs. Moreover, the stakeholders do not know their representatives on water governance institutions. They also do not have much knowledge about how their representatives were elected. This is due to a failure of governance. However, government commitment to a concerted outreach programme may assist in the realization of the fundamental goals – equity, efficiency and sustainability – that lay at the heart of Zimbabwe’s initial push for water reforms. Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Stakeholders; Participation; Transformation; Zimbabwe Water Act; Catchment councils; Subcatchment councils; Manyame River 1. Introduction A number of Southern Africa countries, including Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, embarked on water reform processes in the 1990s (Karar and van Koppen, 2002). In all cases, stakeholder participation – internationally recognised as an important component of sustainable water resource management (Global Water Partnership, 2000) – was iden- tified as critical. In order to show their commitment to stakeholder participation in water management, South Africa, Malawi, Tanzania and Zimbabwe put in place laws providing frameworks for the establishment of stakeholder water institutions (Manzungu, 2001). In Zimbabwe, developments in the water sector since independence were guided by the Water Act of 1976, a revi- sion of the 1927 act, which legally disenfranchised the majority of black population with respect to accessing agri- cultural water. As of 1999, some 85% of agricultural water in the country was used by a mere 4500 white, large-scale commercial farmers (representing 0.04% of the country’s 11.6 million people (Manzungu, 2002; CSO, 2002). This article shows that the majority of the stakeholders still do not have any knowledge about the water manage- ment transformation despite the promulgation of the Water Act seven years ago in 1998. The knowledge which the majority of the stakeholders do not have includes, but is not restricted to the following: 1474-7065/$ - see front matter Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.pce.2006.08.039 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +263 11 701016; fax: +263 4 304989. E-mail addresses: krasposy@yahoo.co.uk (K. Kujinga), ljonker@ uwc.ac.za (L. Jonker). www.elsevier.com/locate/pce Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 31 (2006) 690–698