Johannesburg High Court declares prepaid water meters unconstitutional - and more!

JOHANNESBURG, 30 April 2008 — The Johannesburg High Court today declared prepaid water meters unconstitutional.  Judge Tsoka ordered that the limitation of free basic water to 25 litres of water per person per day be set aside. The City of Johannesburg and Johannesburg Water must instead now supply residents with 50 litres per person per day. Furthermore, the court declared that the choice given to residents of either a prepaid meter or a standpipe for water provision in Phiri is also unlawful. And on top of that, Judge Tsoka determined that the City should bear the legal costs of the applicants.

As jubilation at the judgement ripples across Phiri and the rest of Soweto, the City will be sitting shell-shocked. Johannesburg Water's Operation Gcin'amanzi cannot continue and an entirely new system for water provision has to now replace it. The pitiless prepaids are no more. If the City had followed the writ of the law in implementing the water service, consulting with the community and listening to the voices of protest, they would not be sitting with egg on their faces and a R320-million loan for meters they can't install. The City chose rather to deploy the Red Ants, private security companies and police in Phiri at the onset of Operation Gcina'manzi in August 2003 to protect their misshapen project. The fact that Phiri residents were gagged in their own homes as work proceeded against their wishes, enduring arrest and detention, has redounded to the City's loss. What needless waste! This crisis is one of their own making.

The Coalition Against Water Privatisation would like to extend its heartfelt thanks and congratulation to our advocate in the case, Wim Trengove, and to all the attorneys and paralegals at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at Wits University who pulled together the legal arguments that proved so persuasive. When government implements by managerialist command and disregards the interests of the people it is meant to serve, the Bill of Rights can mean little more than the paper it is written on. Thank you to the Coalition's legal team for making the Constitution real again.

The greatest credit for this extraordinary legal victory must go to the residents of Phiri that resisted the installation of the prepaids. The Coalition Against Water Privatisation formed around the water crisis in Phiri and the struggle was given life by Phiri's strength. Had six households not held out against Johannesburg Water for an eight-month long disconnection of services, today's victory would have been deferred.

From: Anti Privatisation Forum, 123 Pritchard Street (cnr Mooi) , 6th floor Vogas House, Johannesburg. Tel: (011) 333-8334 Fax: (011) 333-8365