A basic human right? City of Joburg wins case against Midrand estate resident owing over R200k

The Johannesburg High Court dismissed a case by a Midrand resident who neglected to pay her municipal bill for almost two years, and then argued it was her constitutional right to have her water reconnected.

Acting Judge Johan Beyers of the Johannesburg High Court, on 4 September dismissed the case brought by the Kyalami Estate resident against the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) and Johannesburg (Joburg) Water with costs.

In early July, the resident, Nompumelelo Given Khanyeza, approached the court on an urgent basis alleging that she had a constitutional right to access sufficient water after the City and Joburg Water disconnected her water supply and subsequently removed the water meter linked to the property over her prolonged failure to settle her municipal bill.

According to the city’s statement, the “affluent” estate resident last made a payment towards her municipal bill years ago.

“The City of Johannesburg has won another significant court case, this time against a resident of an affluent northern suburb who last made payment towards her municipal bill almost two years ago,” it said in a statement.

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R200 000 owed to the Joburg Water

In court papers seen by The Citizen, Khanyeza owed the city and Joburg Water R200 328.33.

The resident wanted the court to declare the water disconnection and removal of her water meter “wrongful and unlawful and in violation of her basic constitutional rights to have access to water”.

“She wanted the court to direct both the city and Joburg Water to install a new water meter and restore her water supply within 24 hours,” the statement said.

Although Khanyeza did not dispute owing the city for municipal services, she disputed the amount she owed.

“The amount owed to the municipality might be about R87 000,” she said.

‘Chronic defaulter’

The city and Johannesburg Water opposed the application, arguing that the resident was a “chronic defaulter” and last made a payment to the municipality on 21 October 2023.

“The respondents [City of Johannesburg and Johannesburg Water] have given the applicant [the resident] several pre-termination notices, including, at least, notices on 8 August and 8 November 2023, respectively. These are all dated in excess of a period of 14 days prior to the alleged discontinuation date of 2 July 2024.

“The respondents were within their rights to enforce the legislatively sanctioned credit control measures, which included the right to discontinue the water supply to the applicant’s [resident] property and to remove the water meter,” said Judge Beyers while delivering the judgement.

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