ANTI-POOR OP-ED: Free basic water in Cape Town is not free and not affordable

Residents facing water injustices demand that the City of Cape Town account for, and change, its anti-poor, racist and sexist free basic water policy practices. The dismissive response to Black people from poor communities who engage the City about their struggles with access to water is unacceptable, undemocratic and unjust.

For a long time, the African Water Commons Collective (AWCC), together with community-based groups from townships all over Cape Town, has engaged the City of Cape Town in numerous campaigns and communications about their struggles with access to water. Time and again, the City has responded by defending policy choices and practices that exclude and punish Black and poor households.

To bring public attention to the struggles of communities facing water injustice, the AWCC and The Movements Collective (TMC) collaborated on a research project that examined the anti-poor bias in the City of Cape Town’s free basic water policy. The project worked with Water Action Committees in Elsies River, Makhaza (Khayelitsha) and Nyanga, which consist of community organisers who are building resistance against water discrimination, exclusion and injustice. Common water-related challenges across these areas include water cut-offs, broken meters left unrepaired by the City, leaking and blocked toilets and inadequate drainage systems that result in frequent street flooding. To show the systemic racism and sexism in the way Cape Town City “provides” free basic water, the AWCC highlights three very serious problems for poor communities.

The first is that free basic water is neither free nor affordable. Supposedly, 15,000 litres per month are provided at no cost (this source on the Cape Town City website actually states 6,000 litres). Afterwards, people who can’t afford any bills start accumulating arrears and their water flow is restricted or blocked completely (the City calls the drip system “controlled flow”). Especially for large households, common in poor communities, the free basic water is insufficient. This problem is compounded by the fact that poor households are situated in areas that have the worst infrastructural problems, such as leaking pipes and inadequate water infrastructure. The consequences are dire. Women and young girls often responsible for domestic chores that require water are exposed to violence during their search for water, and communities as a whole face serious health risks due to problems with both the quantity and quality of water provided.

Free basic water is only supplied to households registered as indigent. According