>
> On Fri, 22 Sep 2000, Patrick Bond wrote:
>
> > a new policy of 6 kl of water per month per `poor' household free
> > (which is halfway to the labour/social movement demand for 50 l/c/day
> > free);
>
> Is the average township household 8 people?
No... the figure quoted on the Debate list was 6,7 average. Still, 50 litres / day is very little, and anything below that is pitiful.
Also, note following from Heinrich Bohmke, who has been working on this in Durban:
"As an aside, it is worth noting that Durban provides six kilolitres of water for free to each consumer. The Metro's claim that this is a show of conscience for the extremely poor is contradicted by statements to the media by a silly accountant of theirs who had not yet been briefed on the Metro's corporate strategy. It is simply not cost-effective, said he, to send out bills and generally administer the accounts of people using less than 6 kilolitres of water. If paper, computer ink and tellers came cheaper, that quantity of free water would be so much lower and vice versa. However, notwithstanding the 6 free kilolitre policy, once a consumer has had her water cut-off, she can only get it turned on again once historical arrears (predating this policy and sometimes inclusive of rent, rates and electricty charges) have been settled or credit agreements signed. The former is an impossibility while the latter is a dangerous undertaking, requiring, where appropriate, mortgages, security in the form of other property, garnishee orders, acknowledgements of debt or, if one's income is nil, perjury."
Peter -- Peter van Heusden <pvh at egenetics.com> NOTE: I do not speak for my employer, Electric Genetics "Criticism has torn up the imaginary flowers from the chain not so that man shall wear the unadorned, bleak chain but so that he will shake off the chain and pluck the living flower." - Karl Marx, 1844