Championing the Inclusive Sustainable Development of the Vaal Riverway, collaboratively 

The need to secure and improve South Africa’s most strategic freshwater resources, aquatic ecosystems and waterways of the Vaal, to champion and advocate for sustainability in unlocking the blue economic growth potential of the Vaal Riverway, and to lead and motivate the dialogue content and conservations on the building of the new sustainable Vaal Riverway smart city region built on the massive endowment of its Riverway real estate, is the inspiration in organising the broad-based action stakeholder forum – the Vaal Riverway Partnership Coalition for Action in Sustainably Developing the Vaal Riverway Blue Economy.    

1. South Africa’s most strategic fresh water resources of the Vaal, its waterways and reservoirs face grave threats with existential implications for the nation’s biggest historic industrial hub, largest user communities and aquatic ecosystems. They are the result of uncontrolled urban pollution and collapse in the supply, quality and security of the fresh water resources, coupled with the shrinking regional economic output and the resultant calamitous impact on social standards and the wellbeing of the people of the Vaal. Yet, ironically, it is this water resource endowment of the Vaal River that ushered South Africa into the industrial era as a world class engineering and heavy manufacturing center, and propelled the rise of Gauteng’s metropoles to become Africa’s largest. A renowned water expert and academic aptly called the Vaal ‘South Africa’s Hardest Working River’.  

1. 1Now, over a century later, it is the same Vaal River waterway real estate – its water resources, waterways and aquatic ecosystem – which holds the key to improving the water security of the country, to transforming the ailing Greater Vaal region into an economic force, a vibrant community, to attracting significant investments into the country’s largest inland coastal real estate development – the Hydrometropolis of the Greater Vaal Riverway Smart City Region.  

1. 2The programme to advocate, facilitate, inspire and support the development and transformation of this high potential waterway real estate endowment of the nation into a catalyst and pivot for sustainable development of the Greater Vaal – driving economic growth, improving the wellbeing of its resident 1,5 million people, securing the nation’s essential water resources, and protecting the waterways and aquatic ecosystem of the Vaal – it is what we call THE Vaal RiverWay – the Way of the Great Vaal River. 

1. 3 The key to achieving this ambitious goal lies in the adoption and collaborative implementation of the extensive Vaal Riverway Blue Economy based on the comprehensive, integrated and innovative Sustainable Riverway Value-Ecosystem Model. 

1. 4 Globally Blue Economy has emerged as one of the key growth and sustainability vectors in the global economic matrix. It is a multi-industry sector with a complex and long value chain which links local, regional and international markets, ecosystems and communities. Its emergence coincides with the global adoption of the sustainable development model, particularly arising from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Globally, the theoretical practice which drives the comprehensive sustainability model is by and large the green economy and its emphasis on principles such as inclusive growth and equity, decarbonisation and climate response, resource efficiency and smart innovation. 

1. 5 In South Africa the Blue Economy was adopted in 2014 as a new national priority sector and economic accelerator titled ‘Operation Phakisa – Oceans Economy’; the key objective was to drive the high growth, diversification, resilience and sustainability of the national economy which had become trapped in low growth territory. The Blue Economy has evolved over the years to encompass economic, social and environmental activities from and related to marine and aquatic spaces in the oceans, coasts and inland waterways and associated water resources. Globally, and at the African Union specifically, the Blue Economy (BE) has been defined as the sustainable development, use and integration of these marine and aquatic spaces, resources and related ecosystems in creating economic development with the goal to improving human well-being and lives, social equity and environmental protection.  

1. 6 The critical success factors to achieving this vision of ‘’growing the Vaal Riverway socio-economic value sustainably’’ is to recognise that this undertaking: 

• will have a profound impact on Southern African society at large and the local resident Vaal communities who are the guardians of the waterways. Its impact will significantly affect large communities and their well-being, the economic foundations of the country and the region, as well as the integrity of the environmental ecosystem and our climate response.  

• cannot be carried out by any single individual, entity or organisation, but requires a whole-of-society approach.  

1. 7 With that in mind, the Vaal Riverway Development Agency was established as a vanguard non-profit organisation to mobilise, organise and ultimately empower the key stakeholders to the effort. Informed by international best practice in similar undertakings, but inspired by the local conditions, the Agency has adopted the Partnership Coalition for Action model as the best way to involve, inspire and empower the broad stakeholder base envisaged, and ensure structured engagements, accountability, and effective and efficient execution of the Vaal Riverway project.  

1. 8 Action coalitions such as the Vaal Riverway Partnership Coalition for Action, are the global best practice and commons. They are innovative, multi-stakeholder partnerships that are established primarily to mobilise, organise and empower society – government, private sector, civil society, international organisation, community based organisations, and built around the common objectives to: 

• catalyse collective action by stakeholders; 
• empower communities and stakeholders to take control of their surroundings and future;  
• spark global and local conversations among generations and sectors; 
• pool resources to improve their environment and decide their own living conditions; 
• plan, launch, support and drive community-wide and long-term, permanent change initiatives; 

• mobilise and create conducive conditions for public and private investment; 
• deliver concrete, game-changing results for regions, nations and societies. 

Greater Vaal Riverway – The Proposition 

2. In South Africa, the Agency has identified the Greater Vaal Region as the most suitable site to pilot and launch the Inland Waterways Blue Economy approach to regional development, based on sustainability. The goal is to facilitate the growth, diversification and transformation of the regional economies in the historical Vaal Triangle industrial node into an integrated, sustainable Riverway economy, in support of the planned building of South Africa’s first smart mega city built on fresh water(ways) – the Hydrometropolis of the Greater Vaal River City region. 

2.1 The Vaal Region is the birthplace of South Africa’s industrialisation and, albeit in sharp decline, it remains its strategic industrial hub. It is also the ‘custodian/guardian region’ of the nation’s most strategic inland freshwater resources – the Vaal River and Vaal Dam. The national and provincial governance and management structures have, however, shown serious failures in executing on these two national strategic fronts: 1) industrialisation and 2) water resource security. On the one hand, the industrial base has eroded significantly without mitigation resulting in high absolute unemployment, chronic economic decay, debilitating social decline, and near existential degradation of the environment. On the other hand, due to poor management and governance, the country’s water security, significantly dependent on the Vaal River system has been placed in jeopardy. There is near collapse of the water infrastructure, lack of maintenance and high river pollution resulting in a lack of urban development, economic decline and capital flight.  

2.2 In a much needed response to these challenges, and in seeking to create opportunities to turn the situation around, the Vaal Riverway Development Agency team identified the urgent need for stewards and guardians of the Vaal riverway resources, infrastructure and ecosystems to be mobilised and organised. Consulting and working with a stellar constellation of international, African and national experts and stakeholders, Vaal Riverway led the process  in crafting the response framework – developing the content, strategy, structure and programmes for the development of the Sustainable Vaal Riverway Blue Economic Programme, and creating a broad-based stakeholder mechanism – the Riverway Coalition for Action in Sustainably Developing the Greater Vaal Riverway Blue Economy. 

2.3    Out of all South African regions, the Vaal River region has the most compelling attributes and presents the most competitive proposition for the development of, and investment in, a globally attractive inland Smart Water Capital City Region – the trans-boundary Vaal Hydrometropolis, constituting a vast, diverse and investment attractive Blue Economy base with these outstanding features: 

• SA’s largest legacy industrial base;  
• SA’s largest riverine community of 1,5 million residents;  

• A coastline frontage of almost 1000 km which includes the 100 km length of navigable Vaal River waterway and 800 km’s of Vaal Dam coastline;  
• The Vaal’s waterways give direct access to 4 Provinces.  

2.4   The region lies to the south of the metropolitan Gauteng Province, is a mere 60km from the commercial heartland of the country (Johannesburg), 80km from the country’s largest airport (O.R. Tambo) and 120km from the political capital city (Tshwane). It is connected by a vast network of quality highways, regional roads and rail, both internally and to other regions, being part of and along the main transport corridors linking to the country’s biggest ports. 

2.5 The Vaal Riverway Development Agency, led by the Governing Board and supported by the Advisory Board/Council of Experts, has been established as a Non-Profit Company to advocate and work towards the implementation of the sustainable Vaal Riverway development model in the process to build and transform the Greater Vaal Region into a Smart Vaal River Metropolitan City. It seeks to catalyse growth and diversification of the region’s economy which is dominated by the traditional heavy engineering and manufacturing industry which is in decline, leveraging its highly compelling sustainable development model of the waterway blue economy assets, attributes and potentialities.  

2.6 The Agency has developed a comprehensive, integrated regional Greater Vaal Riverway Blue Economy blueprint, the Riverway Sustainable Value-Creation Ecosystem model, and committed resources to ensure and support the establishment of the collaborative broad-based Vaal Riverway Partnership Coalition for Action as a broad stakeholder forum to ensure the inclusive and collaborative implementation of sustainable Riverway development. 

2.7 The Partnership Coalition for Action is responsible for promoting sustainable Riverway development strategies and programmes within and beyond the planned trans-boundary Greater Vaal Hydrometropolis – the Vaal River City region, facilitating robust discourse on the implementation of an inclusive, integrated, competitive and resilient Vaal Riverway Blue Economy, and ensuring robust engagements with stakeholders aimed at securing tangible socio-economic benefits and the protection of the environmental ecosystem. 

# Sustainable Development Goals: Information is available at https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org. 

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