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Pre-Paid Water of None at All - Johannesburg Water Victimises Sowetan Households

ANTI-PRIVATISATION FORUM -Press Statement - 2nd April 2004

20 households in Phiri, Soweto, have had their water disconnected. These service disconnections have been effected by Johannesburg Water (JW) in an area that is the test case for the installation of prepaid water meter systems throughout the whole of Soweto. Rather than extending the provision of water services, then, JW's Operation Gcinamanzi is working to limit people's access to water. The expectation of Soweto residents for the imposition of the prepaid meters can now only be one of foreboding.

The 20 households that have had their right to water denied refused the installation of prepaid meters. In imposing this new technology on poor households, Johannesburg's water utility company has withdrawn all previously existing water services completely. This campaign to victimise those households that have not submitted to the ominous regime of prepaid systems follows on the uprising by residents against JW's plans in Phiri (see www.apf.org.za) during September and October last year. The priority of the company is evidently not the needs of water users while the discipline of cutting down consumption and upping its receipts is paramount.

In the face of resistance to Operation Gcinamanzi, JW has remained stubbornly committed to forcibly installing the prepaid meters. Already wielding an interdict barring Anti Privatisation Forum (APF) members - and any resident wanting to query JW's operations from approaching within 50 metres of work sites - the company has refused to co-operate with researchers requesting information pertaining to its plans for prepaid water systems. Countless requests for interviews and documents have been denied and frustrated. The APF, together with the South African History Archive, has been compelled therefore to apply for the information under the Promotion of Access to Information Act. Public disclosure of this information will ensure greater accountability from a company that is reluctant to act according to the law, especially when the law is designed to make its plans transparent and to afford the public the right to know what is being carried out in their name.

For information/comment, please contact Dale McKinley (+27) 072 429-4086.

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