Abstract

KUSE, Mzukisi. Complex Contradictions as Drivers of Expansive Learning in Water Resources Co-management in the uMzimvubu Catchment. SAJEE [online]. 2026, vol.42, n.1, pp.1-21. ISSN 2411-5959.  https://doi.org/10.4313/sajee.v42.1.02.

The aim of this article is to understand complex contradictions which are involved in collaborative management of water resources at a catchment level in South Africa, where numerous water challenges exist including security of supply, degradation of ecological infrastructure, poor landscape governance and resource pollution. To address water related challenges, South Africa has defined several Strategic Water Source Areas (SWSAs), one of which is the uMzimvubu catchment in the Eastern Cape. The uMzimvubu catchment is located in the former Transkei homeland, and the river system runs along the northern border of the Eastern Cape Province. The study draws on Cultural History Activity Theory (CHAT) and it analyses contradictions within and between activity systems in the uMzimvubu catchment. In this theory, contradictions are the source of expansive learning; they are the focus of co-engagement to resolve identified contradictions using formative intervention methodology. Change Laboratories (or Change Labs) were used in this study as hubs for learning and the methodological approach was informed by the expansive learning cycle. In the uMzimvubu catchment, co-management of water resources is characterised by complex contradictions and these stem from deep-seated structural dynamics where historical, cultural, political, ecological and social aspects intersect.

Keywords : co-management; activity systems; contradictions; expansive learning; isiphithiphithi.

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