A critique of the legal framework regulating the human right to water in Zimbabwe

Abstract

This study traces the legal frameworks on the human right to water. It analyses the resolutions and conventions that have addressed the subject of the right to water. The thesis examines the national (Zimbabwe) international and regional legal and policy regimes for the promotion and protection of the human right to water. Particular interest in the study is on the conventions and treaties ratified by Zimbabwe. United Nations General Comment number 15 as well as some African conventions are reviewed and juxtaposed to the Zimbabwean frameworks with a view to establish existence of gaps if any. The study shows that the international provisions are hardly binding, and where they do, a country would be either a member state or ratified the provisions thereof. The position of the law in Zimbabwe’s on the right to water is also studied in comparison to South Africa. The core finding is that within the international provisions and indeed the Zimbabwean and South African legal regimes, there exists the human right to water. This right inheres in several other rights such as the right to life, dignity and health. Both South Africa and Zimbabwe promulgated water related legislations to correct injustices of a colonial past and to trigger development towards effective, equitable and efficient water resources management influenced by policy decisions in and the need to respect economic and social human rights. A comparison of both jurisdictions would show the need for legal reforms to enable a full realization of the human right to water. Although there be a constitutional right to water in Zimbabwe, literature reviewed in the thesis indicates that while Zimbabwe has constitutionalized the right to water, courts are still to satisfactorily read the right to water into existing rights, especially the right to life. The study observes that practically, there is a dearth in case law in terms of seriousness to implement the right. It is recommended that there be not only enhanced judicial activism in promoting this right but also a political will and the government’s seriousness in respecting, protecting, and fulfilling the human right to water. It is recommended that there be a willingness to give content and effect to the human right to water in national legal obligations and responsibilities and a focus on providing real remedies where violations to the right exist. Citizens interest in advocating for their legal right to water equally needs attention.