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The ‘poisoned chalice’ of state ownership of water infrastructure in contemporary Blantyre, Malawi

ABSTRACT The remunicipalisation of water in the global south has heightened a sense of optimism among left-leaning scholars and activists. This is widely heralded as a triumph over neo-liberal privatisation and therefore seen as putting water back into public hands. This article takes a critical view of this trend. It contends that insofar as remunicipalisation is conflated with state ownership, it may in other contexts not necessarily lead to water going back into public hands. An empirical account is presented of how state ownership in Malawi has been imbricated in commercialisation rationalities that have in turn undermined the establishment of an egalitarian public water network in Blantyre City. The article uncovers the extent to which the dominance of private capitalist interests in Malawi’s economy, lack of public financing and over-reliance on debt from global-local financial markets have systemically compromised the efficacy of the state in mediating the politics of water production and distribution.