Mazibuko v City of Johannesburg

The Constitutional Court held that the City of Johannesburg's Free Basic Water policy of 6 kilolitres per household per month was not unreasonable and did not violate the constitutional right to water under section 27. The Court rejected the claim that courts can prescribe a quantified minimum core content of socio-economic rights, affirming that reasonableness review is the proper standard.

Residents of Phiri, Soweto, challenged the City's Free Basic Water policy which provided 6 kilolitres of free water per household per month, after which pre-paid meters required payment. The applicants argued this amount was insufficient for poor households and violated their constitutional right to access sufficient water.

Whether the City's Free Basic Water policy violated section 27 of the Constitution and whether courts may prescribe a quantified minimum core content of the right to water.

The Court held that the City's policy was not unreasonable under section 27(2) and dismissed the application. Courts may not prescribe a specific quantified minimum core of socio-economic rights; the appropriate standard of review is reasonableness.

Socio-economic rights in the South African Constitution are subject to reasonableness review under progressive realisation, not judicial prescription of minimum core content, having regard to available resources and other constitutional considerations.

The Court found that reasonableness review requires assessment of whether government programmes are coherent, comprehensive, and balanced, taking account of short, medium and long-term needs and available resources. The minimum core approach from international law was rejected as inappropriate for South African constitutional adjudication because it would require courts to make complex policy and budgetary decisions beyond their institutional competence. The City's policy, while imperfect, fell within the range of reasonable measures.

The Court noted ongoing concerns about implementation challenges and encouraged continuous review and improvement of water provision policies to better serve vulnerable communities.

Mazibuko is the leading case on justiciability of socio-economic rights, establishing that South African courts apply reasonableness review rather than minimum core analysis, and defining the scope and limits of judicial intervention in resource-allocation decisions involving constitutional socio-economic rights.

Mazibuko v City of Johannesburg 2010 (4) SA 1 (CC) [2009] ZACC 28