Cosatu welcomes pre-paid water judgement 30-04-08

 

COSATU welcomes pre-paid water judgement

The Congress of South African Trade Unions applauds the ruling by Johannesburg High Court Judge, MP Toska, that prepayment water meters are unconstitutional, as they infringe on the rights of people to have access to sufficient water.

The federation congratulates the five poor residents of Phiri in Soweto who brought the matter to court, and the centre for applied legal studies (CALS) at Wits University who assisted them.

COSATU agrees with the judge's criticism of the Johannesburg municipality for its discriminatory approach to the provision of water. He said that: "the underlying basis for the introduction of prepayment meters seems to me to be credit control. If this is true, I am unable to understand why this credit control measure is only suitable in the historically poor black areas and not the historically rich white areas. Bad payers cannot be described in terms of colour or geographical area."

Prepayment meters automatically disconnect a user's water supply after a free basic amount has been consumed, unless the user can afford to "top-up" the free basic amount with his or her own money. The judge ruled that "to expect the applicants to restrict their water usage, to compromise their health, by limiting the number of toilet flushes in order to save water is to deny them the rights to health and to lead a dignified lifestyle."

COSATU welcomes the court's ruling that the amount of water that poor residents receive free of charge must increase from 6kl per household to 50kl per household, and that if residents needed more than 50kl then the council should give the household the option of installing a an ordinary credit-metered water supply.

The judge found that increasing the free basic water supply would not put significant strain on the City's water and financial resources, especially if free basic water already supplied to rich households is redistributed to the poor.

COSATU endorses the statement of Jackie Dugard, Acting Director of CALS and a member of the applicants' legal team, that "this judgment is not only a victory for them (the five residents), but for all poor South Africans. Judge Tsoka has shown that socio-economic rights have teeth. His judgment shows a careful and sensitive understanding of the law, the City's obligations, but above all our clients' lives".

Patrick Craven (National Spokesperson)

Congress of South African Trade Unions

1-5 Leyds Cnr Biccard Streets

Braamfontein, 2017

P.O. Box 1019

Johannesburg, 2000

SOUTH AFRICA

Tel: +27 11 339-4911/24

Fax: +27 11 339-5080/6940/ 086 603 9667

Cell: 0828217456

E-Mail: patrick@cosatu.org.za

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