Johannesburg’s shitty little river: faecal discourse and discontent regarding the Jukskei

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper theorises the discursive construction of sewerage and sewage in relation to Johannesburg’s Jukskei river. In the context of failing national and local water infrastructures, rivers in South Africa are filthier than ever and public trust in politicians is similarly polluted. We explore key moments in public discourse about sewage in the Jukskei, to consider how the visible and affective traces of faecal matter in the river speak to a broader sense of post-colonial collapse of both infrastructure and trust in those responsible for it. We argue that as both material and metaphor, shit-in-the-river serves to expose maladministration and corruption on the part of the government. But it also highlights the fragility of modernity itself as a project. In the context of massive looming water crises, huge shifts in both culture and infrastructure will be required to de-faecalise rivers specifically, and water supplies in general, in South Africa.