The head of the Litigation Unit, Stuart Wilson, said that this case was brought by five desperately poor residents of Phiri, Soweto, on behalf of themselves, their households and all similarly situated residents.

The residents have either had their water cut off by Johannesburg Water or been persuaded to accept prepaid meters as the only alternative to a total disconnection of the water supplied to their homes and the installation of a limited-flow yard pipe.

Prepayment meters automatically disconnect a user's water supply after a free basic amount has been consumed, unless the user can afford to "top-up" the free basic amount with his or her own resources.

In their application, the residents said that the decision to implement prepayment meters in Phiri was unconstitutional and violated a range of statutes and by-laws intended to protect access to water for
the poor.

They also said that the amount of 6 kilolitres originally provided free of charge to them was insufficient to meet the needs of households living in poverty, who would not normally be able to "top-up" their supply once the free basic amount has been exhausted.

The residents said that both the inadequacy of the free basic supply and the installation of prepayment meters amount to violations of their constitutional rights of access to sufficient water.