A landmark High Court ruling against a multi-million-dollar prepaid water scheme in South Africa’s largest township, Soweto, has been heralded as a global precedent in the struggle for the basic human right to water. The City of Johannesburg is expected to appeal the judgement and residents realise that “the struggle will not end anytime soon”.
In a class-action suit, five residents of Phiri, one of Soweto’s poorest townships, asked the court to order the city to provide at least 50 litres of free water per person per day.
They also asked that they be given the choice of an ordinary credit water meter instead of the prepaid system imposed by the city, on which the court ruled in their favour as well.
Read more: WASH News Africa, 08 May 2008
[...] and drinking. The Constitution of South Africa also acknowledges water as a human right, and courts declared this amount to be 50 liters each day. So, I wonder, how does it feel to live on 50 liters (13 [...]