In rural South Africa, many households still lack adequate water supply and sanitation facilities. Successful efforts to improve the situation require negotiations between actors in the engineering, user, environmental, cultural and socio-economic contexts. This article attempts to identify the different actors and activities in the present and future water supply and sanitation in Vioolsdrif in north-western South Africa. The gender aspects of water, sanitation and participation in decision-making are highlighted as well as the more fundamental points of departure for a concept of feminist sanitary engineering.
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