Page 21 - Notes from LRC's Housing Conference

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The municipality has a legislative and constitutional obligation to provide safe water to all the people who reside in its area of jurisdiction. It would be important to first engage with the municipality to understand why clean water is not being provided and assert your right to clean water.
Municipalities must understand their responsibilities and obligations when it comes to the provision of services. The Mshengu judgement is useful in that it spells out the obligations and responsibilities that Municipalities must provide access to basic services for everyone. Public interest organisations can ensure that both municipalities and people on the ground understand their rights and obligations. Having dialogues with the municipalities and community members, for instance, is one way to share information and ensure an understanding of the rights and obligations at play.
If municipalities fail to comply with court orders, a contempt application can be brought to hold, for instance, the municipal manager in contempt of court. This could result in a fine or imprisonment. Sometimes, however, bringing contempt applications does not achieve the desired result. It is often better to engage with municipalities on the reasons they are not complying and see if there is another way that compliance can be ensured – for instance, getting the province to take over the responsibility from the municipality.
Yes. Every area falls under the jurisdiction of a municipality, even if there are tribal authorities in charge. In these areas, the municipalities still have a constitutional and legislative obligation to provide access to basic services and communities living in these areas can approach their local municipality to demand access to basic services. The Mshengu judgement can certainly be used as a tool to advocate for these services and can be used against municipalities to show that they must provide the services.
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What meaningful role can we play as public interest organisations to remove friction around access to services for the people?
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How can we ensure that municipalities adhere to court orders? Can failure to implement court orders be viewed as a criminal offence?
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Can the judgement in Mshengu & Others v Msunduzi Municipality & Others be used in rural areas where the tribal authorities are in charge? Can communities in these areas demand basic services?
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SUMMARY NOTES FROM THE HOUSING CONFERENCE
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