Climate, governance, inequality, and the elusive promise of water access in Limpopo province, South Africa: an integrative review

Abstract

This paper critically examines the persistent challenges of water access in Limpopo Province, South Africa, through an integrated conceptual lens that combines environmental justice, political ecology, and polycentric governance. Using an integrative review methodology that synthesizes peer-reviewed literature, policy documents, and comparative case studies from Kenya, India, and Brazil, the study reveals how apartheid-era planning has left a legacy of infrastructural underdevelopment that contemporary governance systems have struggled to redress. The analysis demonstrates how decentralized service delivery models have, in practice, reproduced exclusion through capacity constraints, poor coordination, and inadequate accountability, while emerging challenges, including Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), digital exclusion, mining expansion, and procurement corruption, compound existing inequities. Drawing on comparative polycentric governance experiences and rights-based frameworks, the paper argues that the water crisis in Limpopo cannot be understood as a purely technical or environmental issue but must be seen as a justice issue rooted in structural and historical inequities. The study concludes by calling for a rights- and equity driven approach to water governance that centers the voices of marginalized communities, institutionalizes participatory mechanisms, and strengthens accountability systems to fulfil the constitutional promise of water for all.