Atlantic Beach Estate
BUT THAT ’ S ALL JUST THEORY This is all just theory , you may think . We live in a rational world where people don ’ t behave like that . Hmm – remember 2017 ? Remember the looming spectre of Day Zero ? Why and how did that happen , and how was it averted ? Well , it happened because water was cheap and ubiquitous – at least until it wasn ’ t . It was a commons . So it didn ’ t really matter if you used more , had a green lawn and a sparkling pool , and took long , hot showers every night . The water would still come pouring out of the taps like it always did . But , no . In 2017 the tragedy of the commons caught up with us .
THE TRAGIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE TRAGEDY A theory is just a theory , but when it is used to justify political strategy or social engineering , it can get quite ugly . The tragedy of the commons ( ToC ) has been used to justify many injustices , most notably by American academic Garrett Hardin , who argued that the world ’ s resources are finite , but that they need to be divided up between an ever-increasing population . Taken to its inevitable conclusion , Hardin ’ s argument is that , to prevent the tragedy
of the commons , poor people should be allowed to starve to death because that would ‘ teach them ’ ( or at least the surviving ones ) to manage their resources better . ( Of course , while all this was happening , these countries would still export food – and non-food crops that were grown by foreign multinationals in place of food – to the rich countries , but that ’ s another whole story .)
BLAMING THE VICTIM And it gets worse . I overheard someone in 2017 saying , ‘ it ’ s those people in the townships who waste water ,’ referring , I suspect , to the inevitable spillage from the buckets used to carry water from the standpipes . At the other end of the scale , also at the height of Cape Town ’ s drought , a Constantia resident was selling water from the stream that runs past his property – mostly to people to fill up their swimming pools . His accomplice , who transported the water , was quoted as saying he believes he ‘ is doing a good service to the community ’ because the water would otherwise ‘ just go to waste ’. This attitude is a perfect example of the ToC and , to a certain extent , Hardin ’ s lifeboat ethics . What Hardin failed to realise , though , is that the ToC is caused not by those starving because the field is overgrazed , or those drowning because they are not invited into the lifeboat , but by the greedy pastoralists who overstock the common , and the complacent lifeboat passengers who stretch out comfortably , denying the swimmers a seat . It ’ s the classic case of blaming the victim – a popular strategy for proponents of the highly flawed principle of social Darwinism , and the almost universally discredited ‘ might is right ’ doctrine .
HOW BIG IS THE COMMONS ? The other problem with the ToC is that different people have different opinions about what is common , and what is not . The classic example here is , again , water . During Cape Town ’ s drought ( and no doubt during the Eastern Cape ’ s drought , and all the other pending ones ) people tend to focus on municipal water – because that is what they are being billed for . So , for example , when you use more than your ‘ fair share ’, you end up paying more for it . For some people , that ’ s not really an issue , as they have plenty of money , so this model suggests that they are allowed to use lots of water .
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