The Commodification of water in Soweto and its implications for social justice Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Sociology Department, School of Social Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand. Name: Ebrahim Harvey. Student No: 0300827E Supervisor: Prof. Jacklyn Cock Date: 12 November 2007 Abstract This thesis combines studies in urban, environmental and public sociology and political science. Adequate and unimpeded access to water supply in poor black communities arguably lie at the heart of urban and environmental sociology, social policy and democratic local government. It explores water as a basic and non-substitutable resource and a human right, the countervailing pressures to commercialise and commodify it and the evolving countermovement to these pressures. It also explores the sufficiency of the present water lifeline and the appropriateness or otherwise of prepaid water meters in poor communities and the disempowering and alienating social consequences they appear to have. The contending theses of commodification and decommodification and their underlying social relations is the theoretical framework within which we situate the study. The first section deals with the aim of the study, its rationale, methodology and the theoretical considerations. The second part focuses on the historical and institutional dynamics which both inform and are consequential to water commercialisation and commodification in South Africa. It explores and analyses the technology, ideology and sociology of prepaid water meters in general terms and the specific impacts they have had in Soweto, where the case study is situated. It furthermore critically explores these impacts in relation to the notions of human rights and social justice in the South African context. The epistemic heart of the thesis is the case study, based on a critical examination and analysis of the impacts the limited free water lifeline and the installation of prepaid water meters have had in Phiri, Soweto. It also critically analyses the problems and prospects for resistance to these meters and for developing an anti-commodification countermovement. In conclusion this thesis explores an alternative political, policy and institutional framework which may become necessary in the future if the problems identified as a result of the case study are to be seriously addressed by the service provider, Johannesburg Water, and the City of Johannesburg. ii Declaration I declare that this dissertation is my own, unaided work. It is being submitted to the Sociology Department in the School of Social Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Research and Dissertation. It has not been submitted for any degree or examination to any other university. iii Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have been possible without the constant, caring and committed guidance of my supervisor, Professor Jacklyn Cock. To her I express my heartfelt appreciation. I also need to express my deepest appreciation to the Ford Foundation for the scholarship they awarded me, without which I certainly would not have able to afford to pay for this study. Finally, I wish to express my appreciation to Miss Gila Carter, administrator in the Wits sociology department, for her valuable assistance with the Excel programme which I used to capture the case study results. iv Dedication This work is dedicated to my dearest daughter, Zina, now just 14 years old, who I hope will be inspired by it. Inspired to know that at the age of 53 I completed this doctoral thesis and that therefore, with determination, it is never too late or hard to achieve academic or any other goal in one’s life. Inspired also to know the great virtue of continuously striving to learn and the vital and indispensable importance of water for all life, but especially adequate access to it for human life, for which no justification must exist to deny those who cannot pay for it. v Abbreviations ANC African National Congress APF Anti-Privatisation Forum CoJ City of Johannesburg COSATU Congress of South African Trade Unions DPLG Department of Provincial and Local Government DWAF Department of Water Affairs and Forestry FBW Free basic water GEAR Growth, Employment and Redistribution GJMC Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council JW Johannesburg Water JOWAM Johannesburg Water Management Company KL Kilolitres L Litres LOS Levels of Service MSA Municipal Systems Act MSP Municipal Service Partnerships NP National Party NNP New National Party OGM Operation Gcin’amanzi PPPD Per person per day PPWM Prepaid water meters RDP Reconstruction and Development Programme RSA Republic of South Africa SACP South African Communist Party SAMWU South African Municipal Workers Union SANCO South African National Civic Organisation SMI Social Movement Indaba WSA Water Services Act WRC Water Research Commission vi Tables and Charts Table 1 Demographic household information 188 Table 2 Food expenditure 190 Table 3 Electricity expenditure 190 Table 4 Water tariffs for 2007/8 210 Table 5 Combined water and sanitation tariffs 218 Chart 1 Reasons why new system is “better” 191 Chart 2 Reasons why new system is “worse” 194 Chart 3 Average amount of water purchased 196 Chart 4 What is done if there isn’t enough money to buy water? 199 Chart 5 What is done to “manage” without money to buy water? 200 Chart 6 If any, what kind of problems do you have as a result? 202 Chart 7 How long does the 6kl last your family? 204 Chart 8 How much of water is necessary? 205 Chart 9 Who should pay for more water? 208 Chart 10 Divergent water pricing strategies 209 Chart 11 Why should poor households receive free water? 213 Chart 12 If necessary where do you get money from to buy water? 215 Chart 13 For how long do you go without water? 216 Chart 14 If unhappy with prepaid meters what must be done? 217 Chart 15 How often in a month do you go without water? 220 Chart 16 If any, what are the worst effects of prepaid meters? 222 Chart 17 Were any pressures put on you to accept prepaid meters? 224 Chart 18 What arrangements do you make with backyard shacks? 227 Chart 19 What is your monthly income? 228 vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ii Declaration iii Acknowledgements iv Dedication v Abbreviations vi Tables and Charts vii CHAPTER 1: THE SOCIOLOGY, IDEOLOGY AND POLITICS OF WATER COMMODIFICATION IN POST- APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA Aim 1 Rationale 1 Problem in context 12 Questions examined 20 Scope of study 24 Approach and methodology 26 Limits of study 28 Outline of chapters 29 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL CONTEXT: WATER AS PUBLIC GOOD VERSUS WATER AS COMMODITY Introduction 32 Mutating nature of neo-liberalism 34 Water as a public or private good: critically distilling the discourse 36 The circulatory metabolism of water supply in Soweto 38 Privatisation, commercialisation, corporatisation and commodification 41 Public-private dichotomous discourse 45 Public-private partnerships 47 ‘Water is life’, but is it really? 48 A Polanyian decommodification countermovement 51 Is the ‘commons’ a counter-hegemonic project/discourse? 55 CHAPTER 3: HISTORICAL CONTEXT: THE POLITICS, POLICIES, INSTITUTIONS, IDEOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY OF WATER SUPPLY UNDER APARTHEID Introduction 59 Some key historical pointers before and after 1994 59 National Water Policy under Apartheid 61 Institutional Framework 66 The Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority/Lesotho Highlands Water Project 66 The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry 70 The role of Rand Water 71 Historical significance of Johannesburg 73 Water supply in Johannesburg under Apartheid and before 75 Pivotal political history of Soweto 77 xiii CHAPTER 4: THE LEGAL-POLICY ARCHITECTURE FOR WATER COMMODIFICATION BETWEEN 1994 AND 2000 Part One 79 National legislation between 1994 –2000 79 The White Paper on Water Supply and Sanitation (1994) 79 The Water Services Act (1997) 80 White Paper on Water policy (1997) 81 The National Water Act (1997) 82 The South African Constitution (1996) 82 Municipal Systems Act (2000) 84 Approach of government to Free Basic Water 87 The Strategic Framework for Water Services (2003) 87 Part Two Local government policy shifts: the iGoli 2002 Plan 90 Johannesburg Water launched 95 Service Delivery Agreement/Sale of Business Agreement 97 Management Contract 98 Conclusion 99 CHAPTER FIVE: EXPLAINING THE SHIFT TO COST RECOVERY, A ‘CULTURE OF NON-PAYMENT’, FREE BASIC WATER AND WATER ‘SCARCITY’: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS A critical analysis of a ‘culture of non-payment’ and cost recovery 101 The origins, politics and economics of Free Basic Water 107 How ‘free’ is Free Basic Water? 115 Free Basic Water as pedagogy of control 117 Paying for water 118 Is water ‘scarcity’ real or a rationale for commodification or both? 121 CHAPTER SIX: THE TECHNOLOGY, ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL IMPACTS OF PREPAID WATER METERS Introduction 127 Manufacture, costs and areas of installation 128 Arguments in favour of prepaid water meters 129 Position of the City of Johannesburg 132 Experience in other municipalities 136 Dissecting prepaid water meters 138 Black economic empowerment and prepaid water meters 144 From non-payment to prepayment: progress or harsh commodification? 147 Black women, prepaid water meters and water commodification 155 Impact of prepaid water meters in other townships 158 Prepaid water meters within the context of service delivery 161 Examining social justice in water consumption 162 How useful are the discourses of human rights and universalism? 168 The UK experience 177 ix CHAPTER SEVEN: CASE STUDY