In South Africa, the Poor Could Win the Water Battle By Fabienne Pompey Le Monde FR
Tuesday 24 February 2004
South African anti-privatization movements are poised to win the water battle. Ever since the government adopted the World Bank-imposed "total cost recovery" principle, the cost of water has become inaccessible for the poorest sectors of the population. Private companies, which had rushed into these new markets, begin to become disillusioned.
In order to forestall uprisings in the townships� the black ghettos�, the Apartheid government determined to supply water for practically free, charging a modest fixed sum to each home. After 1994, the municipal services applied the "World Bank doctrine" and imposed water payments at their "correct price".
In rural areas, the vast majority of blacks had no access to running water. The state undertook to make good on this delay. However, once households were connected, residents found themselves unable to pay. According to the municipal employees' union, very much in the forefront of the anti-privatization battle, prices went up by as much as 400%. The result is that 10 million water supply cuts have been effected since 1994.
The townships began to rebel. When the Nelspruit commune, in Mpumalanga, signed a thirty-year contract with the British company Bi-Water, tens of thousands of households organized a boycott. The revolt cost millions of rands in unpaid bills to Bi-Water, which is now demanding state support to continue its operations.
FREE MINIMUM SERVICE
The French company, Suez, which obtained a contract for "greater Johannesburg", is also incurring the anger of the poorest people. Unpaid bills accumulate and the revolt intensifies. The slogan "Destroy the meter, enjoy the water", launched by the Anti-privatization Forum (APF), which regroups dozens of neighborhood organizations, is realizing a growing success.
Confronted with insurrection, the government has established a free minimum service. Since 2001, poor households enjoy 6,000 free liters of water a month. That's not enough for most township households, where up to twenty people may be piled in together. "Half the people in these neighborhoods are unemployed, how do you expect them to manage?" asks Dale MacKinley, APF spokesperson.
"The companies have accepted the principle of the first 6,000 liters free, but make up the cost on the next cubic meters. That's how we get paradoxes: the cubic liter is more expensive in Soweto �Johannesburg's poorest neighborhood� than in the upscale neighborhoods in the north of the city," explains Lance Veotte, who's responsible for water questions at the municipal employees' union.
To combat unpaid bills, Suez has experimented with a system of prepaid meters. "Residents have taken it very badly," opines Dale MacKinley. The company, which is trying to extend the system into the huge Soweto Township, is encountering serious resistance.
During the years 1997-1998, all the big French companies had prosperous businesses in South Africa. Now they tend to scale back. "In July 2003, one of them even repatriated some salespeople," explains a French economist based in South Africa. "The companies had to confront popular resistance to privatization. With regard to water, the public sector-private sector partnership didn't work well," he adds under cover of anonymity.
With general elections looming, the government seems ready to moderate its privatization ambitions, at least provisionally. "The government has not abandoned the idea, but it is more cautious," is Lance Veotte's analysis. "Access to potable water is a human right. We'll continue to fight so that water doesn't become a consumer good like any other," he promises.
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Translation: Truthout French language correspondent Leslie Thatcher. Mitayo Potosi
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