water Article Water ‘Apartheid’ and the Significance of Human Rights Principles of Affirmative Action in South Africa Ademola Oluborode Jegede 1, * and Pumzile Shikwambane 2   Citation: Jegede, A.O.; Shikwambane, P. Water ‘Apartheid’ and the Significance of Human Rights Principles of Affirmative Action in South Africa. Water 2021, 13, 1104. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13081104 Academic Editor: Bruce M. Wilson Received: 20 January 2021 Accepted: 23 February 2021 Published: 16 April 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 School of Law Staff, University of Venda, Thohoyandou 0950, South Africa 2 Limpopo Department of Agricultural and Rural Development, Polokwane 0727, South Africa; shikwambanep93@gmail.com * Correspondence: ademola.jegede@univen.ac.za; Tel.: +27-636-587-791 Abstract: Water is an essential necessity for human beings; however, South Africa has a long history of inequalities dating back to apartheid politics and legislation which denied access to water to disadvantaged black populations mostly residing in rural areas. Although apartheid has officially ended, whether the lack of access to water by such populations who still cannot afford it exists and aligns with international human rights principles of equality and non-discrimination merits an examination. To redress the injustices of the apartheid regime, the right to have access to sufficient water is entrenched in section 27(1)(b) of the 1996 South African Constitution. In addition to embracing equality and non-discrimination, the Constitution informs other instruments and measures such as free basic water policy and pre-paid meters meant to ensure access to water. However, the plight of these populations persists in post-apartheid South Africa, but it is rarely a subject of academic scrutiny how the notion of affirmative action as grounded in the principles of equality and non-discrimination under human rights law can be deployed as a response. Using a doctrinal research approach, this article argues that the continuing struggle of disadvantaged communities with access to water does not only constitute water apartheid, it negates the human rights principles of equality and non-discrimination. The principle of affirmative action is useful in responding to inadequate access to sufficient water by disadvantaged populations in post-apartheid South Africa. Keywords: affirmative action; apartheid; disadvantaged populations; equality; human rights; non-discrimination; politics; water; South Africa 1. Introduction Water is essential for human beings irrespective of race, disability and social status. South Africa has a long history of enormous differences and inequalities regarding service delivery including access to water. Under the apartheid regime, a high level of inequality was a trend in access to water, a development that favoured the minority white populations and unfairly disadvantaged the black rural communities. Although since 1994 when apartheid officially ended, there has been a rework of the South African water law and policy [1], agitations for equality in water access are still rampant and still highly debated in political arena in post-apartheid South Africa [2]. Literature has engaged the political dimension to the access of disadvantaged communities to water and measures meant to allow their access to water in South Africa [3,4]. There is scholarship on the vision and weaknesses of post 1994 water policies and measures including the implementation of the free basic water policy [5] and prepaid water meters [1]. Despite these measures, access to water continues to raise the issues around equality and non-discrimination involving populations disadvantaged by past unfair practices and laws in South Africa. How current experiences reflect a similar consequence as did the unfair discriminatory practices of the apartheid regime merits a scrutiny. In addition, it is a rare discussion in literature regarding the way in which the principles of equality and non-discrimination may be deployed in Water 2021, 13, 1104. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13081104 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/water