[Marxism] IPS: Country Welcomes Cuban Doctors

[Patrick Bond]

Actually Louis and Walter, those counterrevolutionary bastards who bash 
SA *have* found another devious way to embarrass the government, as you 
see below... (and one paid with his life on May Day).

Louis Proyect wrote:
> Walter wrote:
>> ... Evidently 
>> the South Africa bashers have found yet another way to bash South 
>> Africa's post-apartheid government.
>>     
>
> Walter, as I told you the other day, privatizing water in South 
> Africa has resulted in the death of thousands of children from 
> cholera, dysentery and other such diseases. Any government that 
> allows children to die in this fashion while erstwhile Black 
> revolutionaries join the white capitalist club should not be praised. 
> It should be condemned.
>   


Sunday Independent

City council's township water-meter plans get flushed by high court judge

May 04, 2008 Edition 1

Maureen Isaacson

A historic judgment has consigned prepaid water meters to the dustbin of 
history. It has also highlighted the attitude of the City of 
Johannesburg to the plight of the majority of poor, uneducated, sick and 
HIV/Aids-ravaged residents of Phiri township, Soweto.

The Johannesburg High Court has declared prepaid water meters unlawful 
and unconstitutional. Five poor residents of Phiri, who have been in 
dispute with the city for the past four years on behalf of themselves 
and their community, have won the battle for their constitutional right 
to free water. The application was heard over three days in December.

Judge MP Tsoka ordered the City of Johannesburg to provide a full range 
of water-delivery options. The limitation of free basic water to the 
present 6 kilolitres per household per month was set aside by the court, 
and the City of Johannesburg and Johannesburg Water were ordered to 
supply Phiri residents with 50 litres per person per day.

Judge Tsoka said: "Twenty-five litres per person per day is insufficient 
for the residents of Phiri. … 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."

He found that the consultation leading to the adoption of prepaid meters 
was inadequate and was "more of a publicity stunt than a consultation".

Tsoka said that it was the obligation of the city "to ensure that every 
person had both physical and economic access to water".

He said that the introduction of the prepaid meters was procedurally 
unfair. The judgment said that the by-laws, "other than as a penalty, do 
not authorise the installation of prepayment meters".

The judge said that in "established democracies, prepaid water meters 
are illegal as they violate the procedural requirement of fairness by 
cutting off or discontinuing the supply of water without notice and 
representation.

The policies ostensibly adopted to alleviate the plight of the poor in 
Phiri "appear irrational and unreasonable as they are inflexible".

The underlying objective of the policies is to encourage the 
installation of prepayment meters, which are unlawful. Also, the 
policies are discriminatory because they differentiate between the 
allowances of those who live in historically poor black areas and 
historically richer white areas, said the judge.

While some residents in the previously privileged areas are entitled to 
water on credit, as well as the free allocation of 6 kilolitres per 
household per month, the Phiri residents are expected to pay for water 
before it is used. This contravenes the right to equality laid out in 
the constitution.

Tsoka said the argument that the poor Phiri residents would be otherwise 
unable to use water and that the system was "good for them" was 
patronising. He reminded the court that discrimination based on colour 
was unlawful.

"Bad payers cannot be described in terms of colour or geographical 
areas. Bad debt is a human problem, not a racial problem," he said.

Moreover, the system of prepaid meters discriminated unfairly against 
women, he said. The majority of poor black households, such as those of 
the Phiri applicants, were headed by women. One of the Phiri applicants 
had to walk 30km to fetch water.

To deny the applicants the right to water would perpetuate the 
decades-long poverty, deprivation, want and undignified existence of the 
recent past.

Dale McKinley, a spokesman for the Coalition Against Water 
Privatisation, said: "The city has egg on its face and is saddled with a 
R320 million loan for prepaid meters that it now can't install.

"If the city had followed the writ of the law in implementing its water 
services, consulted the community and listened to the voices of protest, 
this would not be the case."

***

Coalition Against Water Privatisation
Press Statement -1st May 2008

Last seen alive being arrested by Sebokeng police, the death of cde 
Mathafeni is their responsibility

Mathafeni's lifeless body was found this morning in some bushes in 
Sebokeng Zone 20. He was a community activist involved with the Sebokeng 
Ward 2 Concerned Residents that on Tuesday blockaded the Golden Highway 
to demand that the government respond to their memorandum, which was 
submitted on the 10th of March. Police arrested Mathefeni on Tuesday and 
beat him so badly with batons that he had to see a doctor on his release 
on Wednesday morning. He was re-arrested later in the evening – and last 
seen alive in the hands of the arresting officers.

Until an investigation proves otherwise, we, the members of the 
Coalition Against Water Privatisation, accuse the police of being 
responsible for Mathafeni's death. It is enough to know that Mathafeni 
was so badly beaten during his first detention that he required stitches 
- his re-arrest could only have been intended to continue meting out the 
punishment. The police have shown no compunction in resorting to live 
ammunition when dealing with Tuesday's protest. Death in detention is 
just another step up from the violence the police in Sebokeng have 
already shown themselves capable of.

Justice for comrade Mathafeni! Investigate the police for the death of 
cde Mathafeni!

For more information, contact the Coalition Against Water Privatisation 
organizer, Patra Sindane @ 073 052 7005.