Southern Africa is a water-scarce region with an inherent climatic variability and uneven distribution of perennial rivers, which limits the economic growth potential of the region and makes water a strategic resource. This puts water under the spotlight and begs the question how South Africa, eSwatini (formerly Swaziland) and Mozambique co-operate in the Incomati river basin despite the challenges confronting them? This article explores how equitable utilisation, sustainable development and information sharing envisaged by the SADC revised water protocol are perceived by the Incomati river basin stakeholders in practice. Through constructivist institutionalism, the article foregrounds agency as an important element to understand transboundary water interactions, arguing that structure and agency are mutually constitutive. This enables a shift from methodological individualism to an appreciation that structure and agency each possess independent analytic qualities that evolve with time. In turn, this produces complex transboundary water interactions that are interconnected through a triad of structure, ideas and agency. The article draws its analysis from 43 interviews conducted with different stakeholders in the Incomati river basin, participatory observations, informal conversations, a review of literature and SADC official documents. Despite various measures in place to promote regional development and integration, power still permeates SADC water governance in a way that affects information sharing and equitable and sustainable water management. Taking power as an explanandum, the article finds that, to a large degree, the constructed transboundary water relations in the Incomati river basin do not acquiesce to structural power. Instead of being passive, stakeholders constantly negotiate and renegotiate ways of governing the shared river based on the context and preferences.

南部非洲是一个缺水地区，固有的气候多变性和常年河流分布不均，限制了该地区的经济增长潜力，使水资源成为战略资源。这使水成为人们关注的焦点，并提出了一个问题，即尽管面临挑战，南非、eSwatini（前斯威士兰）和莫桑比克如何在 Incomati 河流域合作？本文探讨了 Incomati 河流域利益相关者在实践中如何看待 SADC 修订后的水协议所设想的公平利用、可持续发展和信息共享。通过建构主义制度主义，本文将代理作为理解跨界水相互作用的重要元素，认为结构和代理是相互构成的。这使得从方法论的个人主义转变为对结构和能动性各自具有随时间演变的独立分析品质的欣赏。反过来，这会产生复杂的跨界水相互作用，这些相互作用通过结构、思想和机构的三元组相互关联。本文从与 Incomati 河流域不同利益相关者的 43 次访谈、参与式观察、非正式对话、文献回顾和 SADC 官方文件中得出分析。尽管采取了各种措施来促进区域发展和一体化，权力仍然以影响信息共享和公平和可持续水资源管理的方式渗透到南共体水资源治理中。以权力为解释，文章发现，在很大程度上，因科马蒂河流域构建的跨界水资源关系并不默认结构性权力。利益相关者不是被动，而是根据背景和偏好不断协商和重新协商管理共享河流的方式。