South Africa may be the third driest country in the region, but water for South Africa can also be found within its borders and other countries, like Swaziland. One should keep in mind that it was an internal political dispute in Lesotho, which could have resulted in a coup d etat and anarchy in general, that prompted the SADC involvement. Resource allocation between Lesotho and South Africa did not create the SADC reaction. While South Africa gets much needed water from Lesotho, Lesotho is paid royalties for this resource and hydro-electricity is produced, which will be sufficient for Lesotho s total needs. If South Africa did intervene in Lesotho and used the fostering of democracy as an excuse, as the conspiracy theory goes, the water from Lesotho would have become too expensive for South Africa, not only in terms of human lives but also economically.
Water is too precious a resource over which to go to war.
Therefore, geopolitics had a role to play in the SADC s involvement. The involvement of South Africa can be partly explained by Lesotho s geographic location. Lesotho is surrounded by a large neighbour that denies Lesotho the option of non-involvement in its internal affairs. This geographic location is more of an explanation for the engagement of the SADC forces than the water itself. To lend weight to this argument, the fighting that ensued after the SADC forces crossed the border into Lesotho was concentrated in and around Maseru.