Accessing Water and Energy: PhotoVoice Stories from Khayelitsha

The Politics and Urban Governance Research Group is undertaking a large research project called Governing the Just Urban Transition (GoJUT). This project, funded by the National Research Foundation, examines the context in which South Africa’s Just Urban Transition is unfolding. We explore how small businesses—Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres, hair salons, car washes, eateries, and shebeens or taverns—in low-income areas of Alexandra in Johannesburg and Khayelitsha in Cape Town cope with ongoing water and energy crises. We believe that understanding the strategies that people use to secure water and energy can help identify opportunities for stakeholders to work together toward a just urban transition.

Alongside other qualitative methods, we have used the Photovoice method to understand how participants access or struggle to access water and energy. Photovoice is a participatory research approach that uses photography to tell real stories related to the research topic. It allows participants to document their lives and share their perspectives on how they navigate specific challenges. Participants take photographs representing their daily realities and later caption a selection of them to share their stories, supported by follow-up interviews and group discussions. In this way, participants help shape the research questions, contribute to data collection and analysis, and participate in disseminating the findings.

This photo essay contains images from 16 participants from Khayelitsha, showing their water and energy experiences. Together, these photographs and stories highlight how communities live and adapt to ongoing water and energy crises in Khayelitsha.

Download the Photo Essay.