Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: At the end of apartheid, in 1994, one of the main concerns of the new ANC government was to erase inequalities and generalize access to basic services. The realization of the right to clean water, which was recognized in the new Constitution, thus became a priority. The municipality of Johannesburg, which had already started redefining its water policy in the 1990s, launched the Gcin’amanzi project in its most important township, Soweto. Early on, it became the subject of controversies, and in 2006 it was at the center of a court case, the “Mazibuko case.” Supported by activist organizations, five residents of Soweto criticized two aspects of the project: the installation of prepaid meters, and the free water policy, the volume of which was deemed insufficient. By shedding light on the politicization of this water-related crisis, this case shows how the reliance on law has made injustices visible, to the point of transforming significantly the social policies of access to basic services targeting marginalized urban populations. More generally, the paper suggests that the technical and economic aspects of urban services conceal power relations in which the end user plays a prominent role.
Author: Sylvie Tissot
Language: French
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2051722434