Judge Tells Minister to Get Water to Eastern Cape Families

The minister for water and sanitation has been given two months to come up with a plan to get water to families in Centane, Eastern Cape.

• The Eastern Cape High Court has told the Minister of Water and Sanitation to come up with a plan to get water to families in Centane.
• The families have not had water for more than eight years.
• They have been to court twice already.
• Acting Judge President Zamani Nhlangulela found that the minister, the Premier and the Amathole District Municipality had breached their constitutional and statutory obligations to supply water.

The minister for water and sanitation has been ordered to convene an intergovernmental task team to come up with a plan, within two months, to provide water to communities living in Centane in the Eastern Cape.

Residents of ward 28 have not had access to water for more than eight years. They have been forced to rely on a river which they share with livestock, in spite of securing an interim court order four years ago compelling national, provincial and local authorities to ensure they have potable water.

The residents returned to court in November last year, asking for final relief.

In his recent ruling, Eastern Cape Acting Judge President Zamani Nhlangulela found that the minister, the Premier and the Amathole District Municipality had breached their constitutional and statutory obligations by failing to provide a basic water supply.

He ruled that the minister and the Premier had failed in their duty to intervene to remedy the failures of the municipality.

The minister was directed to convene the task team to devise and implement a long-term sustainable plan to ensure the families had access to water and a basic water supply.

Judge Nhlangulela directed the government respondents to file the plan with the court within two months, and then to further report back to the court every three months on implementation.

Water crises since 2003

The application was brought by residents and the Masifundise Development Trust.

In 2021, the community secured interim relief against the municipality in terms of which it had to supply individual households with at least 25 litres per person per day.

However, the municipality did not comply with this order.

In their latest application, in which they sought a permanent solution and to hold those in power to account, the residents said they had been experiencing water delivery crises since 2003.

In his judgment, Judge Nhlangulela said the municipality’s water services development plan for 2017 to 2022 showed that only 13% of households had piped water.

“The district is under administration due to financial crises, affecting service delivery. No villages have access to potable water within 200 metres of residences.

“Residents rely on distant rivers, taking one and half hours to fetch water,” he said.

He said water tanks provided in 2020 were only filled once.

All efforts to address the water shortages by the community and the trust had largely failed.

The municipality had received R64-million in 2018/19 for drought relief projects but there was no relief for ward 28 residents.

The judge said the problems were compounded by government and management issues at the local water board, which had also been placed under administration.

Essentially the government respondents, in opposing the application, had denied their duty to monitor and intervene in the crisis, each passing the obligation to the other. They also cited resource constraints.

Judge Nhlangulela said that the residents had a right to water.

“Had the respondents discharged their legal obligations, ward 28’s situation would not have endured for eight years,” he said. He said the “breach was egregious”.

Promises had been made but not kept.

“In the circumstances, I accept that [the residents’] right to access to potable water were breached. The respondents did not take appropriate steps to monitor and intervene (as envisioned in the Constitution and the Water Services Act) to end the water crisis,” he said.

The judge said the order – in the form of a structured interdict – was appropriate given the court’s wide discretion to vindicate the rights and avoid further infringements.

The minister, the Premier and the municipality were ordered to pay the costs of the application.

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