Poor Water Service Delivery: An Exposition of the Plight of the Phiri Community in Soweto, South Africa

Abstract In South Africa, a lot of people are unable to access clean water despite the fact that the Constitution provides that everyone is entitled to have access to adequate clean water. Although, generally, water resource is scarce in South Africa, a lot of strategic interventions have been put in place to ensure that people have access to adequate clean water. The problem is that those who have the responsibility to provide the water have continuously been delivering poor water services to the people. At times, deliberate artificial scarcity is caused with the aim of making demands greater than the water supplied. This has caused desperate situation to the extent that people in the Phiri community in Soweto have approached the court to enforce their rights of access to adequate clean water. The paper explores various fundamental issues considered by the court and the notable pronouncements of the judges with regard to the right to access clean water, the issue of pre-paid water meters, the free basic water policy and their impacts on access to adequate clean water. The paper also considers why it is necessary to encourage people to register under the Indigent Persons Policy