By Alan Nicol and Sobona Mtisi

IDS Bulletin Vol 34 No 3 2003 

Access to and management of water resources is inherently political. Drawing on fieldwork from the Sustainable Livelihoods in Southern Africa programme, largely undertaken in Zimbabwe, with some additional material from South Africa and Mozambique, this article examines the politics surrounding water resources and policy change in southern Africa and reaches some tentative conclusions of relevance to understanding current policy processes in regional water sector reform.