ABSTRACT
The first section of the chapter reviews the transition from the first wave of neoliberalism, where privatization models dominated, to a second wave of neoliberalism, where corporatization is perceived as an alternative institutional model of water delivery. I argue that a private sector ethos operates in both institutional forms but that corporatization merely internalizes the process. I then turn to a case study of how Cape Town commercialized its water sector from 1997 to 2001 and how it has ultimately come to corporatize water delivery. Of particular interest are the cost recovery measures that have been developed in this service transformation and their impact on equity under a corporatized water unit. I conclude by arguing that corporatization runs the risk of exacerbating Cape Town’s water inequities due to its narrow focus on financial imperatives and its disassociation of political decision making from the day-today management of water systems.
