Socio-economic rights and the process of privatizing basic municipal services
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Date
2004
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Law, Democracy & Development, University of the Western Cape
Abstract
The socio-economic righ ts in the Bill of Rights bind all organs of state,
including municipalities. These rights may also impose posicive obligations.
Through the delivery of basic services. municipalities fu lfi l some of
these obligations; indeed. the ve ry purpose of municipalities is to be
'developmencal '. Municipa lities usually provide these services themselves
but they may also use external se rvice providers, including the
private secwr. National government policy also encourages municipali·
ties rn privatise their services and municipalities are increasingly doing
so.
Serious concerns have been raised about the success of privatised service
delivery in providing basic municipal services on an equitable and
affordable basis. Where the provision of basic services gives expression to
certain socio-economic rights, it may be asked whether the process of
privacising these services undercuts the rea lisation of these rights. This is a
legitimate queslion that focuses on empirical evidence. The issue of
privatisation should also be approached from a normative perspective. By
placing the provision of basic municipal services in a human rights paradigm.
the question is how the application of socio-economic rights -
constituting a binding and j usticiable normative framework - can influence
and direct the mechanisms of service delivery. including the privatisation
or services.
In the first section of the paper. che socio-economic r ights obl igations of
local government are outlined. It is argued that these obligations intersect
with local governmem·s conscitutional mandate to provide basic munici·
pal services; through the provision of such services municipalities can give
effect to these righcs. In the second section, the legislative framework in
cerms of which privatisation may occur is set out While privatisation is
not in or of itself inconsistent with the Constitution. the process and the
outcome of p rivatisation may have significanc effects on the realisation of
socio-economic rights. le is thus argued in the fin a I section chat che process
and product of privatising a basic municipal service musr comply wich
the normative framework of socio-economic rights.
Description
Keywords
Socio-economic, Municipalities, Basic services, National government, Service delivery
Citation
Steytler, N. (2004). Socio-economic rights and the process of privatizing basic municipal services. Law, Democracy & Development, 8(2).