Court judgment to restore farm dwellers’ dignity

“The judgment will have implications to the broader South Africa, in that it will be used as a precedent by the farm dwellers to demand municipalities in their areas provide them with basic services,” explained senior attorney Thabiso Mbhense from the Legal Resources Centre .

The only viable source of water for the Mshengu family and other occupiers is a communal tap about 500m away, on a neighbouring farm. Mshengu’s family and others living on Edmore Farm “have to push 25-litre cans down the hill on wheelbarrows, through the bush, and haul them back up a gruelling upward ascent on their return”, according to the judgment.

At times, people have to queue for hours. Some days, they cannot get water as the farm owner switches the water off willy-nilly and without notice. The municipalities argued that farms were the private property of farm owners and, as such, the responsibility of providing water and sanitation fell to them.

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