The constitutional right of access to free water was infringed by Johannesburg Water through its installation of prepaid meters in Phiri, Soweto, according to a ruling made by the Johannesburg High Court last week.
Judge Moroa Tsoka declared that the rights of Phiri residents had been violated and said the prepaid meters were ”illegal and unconstitutional”.
The court found that the city did not consult residents when it decided to install the meters, and the free six kilolitres of water supplied by the meters was not enough for many families.
The residents’ biggest problem with this system was that their access to water was infringed because the supply was cut off after the free six kilolitres were used, leaving them without water.
The case between five residents of Phiri and the City of Johannesburg and Johannesburg Water had been under way since December 2007.
Through a project called Operation Gcin’amanzi, the City of Johannesburg launched a water-saving strategy in 2001. The project, which first started in Phiri, cost the city R880-million and resulted in the installation of 80 000 water meter in Soweto.
”When Operation Gcin’amanzi was launched it was meant to be about more than just installing meters. It was about improving water infrastructure in Soweto, which included fixing leaking pipes and improving the sanitation systems,” said City of Johannesburg spokesperson Virgil James.
James said that the city and Johannesburg Water are complying with the court ruling. ”The court ruling was that we stop the roll-out of meters in Soweto and we have, in fact, done that,” he said. Operation Gcin’amanzi has already saved the city more than 52 000 megalitres of water, according to James.
A community-based NGO — through a campaign called Operation Vulamanzi — this week advised Phiri residents that they could bridge their meters after the court ruling. The bridging of meters involves manipulating the piping between the water supply and the meter so that the gauges stop reading and water can run.
”The court ruling suggested that the meters were unconstitutional and through Operation Vulamanzi we will be informing the communities about their rights on prepaid meters and the implications of the ruling,” said Patrick Sindane, a member of the Coalition Against Water Privatisation.
Sindane told the Mail & Guardian Online this week that Phiri residents would actively ”mobilise” against the meter system. ”As we speak now, members of the community of Phiri are digging up the meters and bridging them, and they are allowed to so because the court ruled in their favour.”
The City of Johannesburg, however, said residents who tamper with the meters are engaging in criminal activity.
”Digging up and tampering with the meters is indeed damage to council property and criminal charges can be laid against people who do that.
”The ruling did not say that people can do as they please with council property; it said that we must stop the rolling out of prepaid meters,” said James.
According to the City of Johannesburg, before the meters were installed, residents paid a flat rate of R149 a month for deemed consumption of water, which was not cut off. However, following the introduction of the prepaid meter system, many households in Phiri have been forced to buy additional water credits once their free limit of six kilolitres is used up. The average monthly expenditure for prepaid water is about R60.
”The community wants get back to the credit system where a minimal flat rate can be granted to them, so Jo’burg Water will be forced to redesign their water supply in Phiri and other meter-affected areas as a whole,” said Sindane.
Johannesburg Water said that it is considering appealing the court’s ruling.
”Everything we do is governed by legislation and when we introduced the meter system it was not to punish any community but it was for cost-effectiveness of water in those communities,” said James.
”We have intentions to appeal the ruling and we will follow the legal route till the very end,” he said.