Disconnecting schools from essential municipal services: a constitutional, moral and social failure

THE recent disconnection of water and electricity services to several public schools in Phoenix and across the greater eThekwini Municipality is a deeply troubling development that raises serious constitutional, moral and policy concerns.

- DR JONATHAN ANNIPEN

IFP councillor Dr Jonathan Annipen, left, with Krishna Moodley - who lives with his wife, and had been struggling under the weight of a long-standing municipal 'unity account' debt, while managing chronic health conditions on a pensioner's income. With Annipen's intervention, Moodley's debt of R165 000 had been written-off. I Supplied

These disconnections arise from arrears in municipal rates, water and electricity accounts. While the imperative for municipalities to collect revenue and ensure financial sustainability is understood and acknowledged, such enforcement measures must never come at the expense of pupils’ constitutional right to education.

The affected schools are predominantly located in township and low-income communities where high unemployment, poverty, and social vulnerability remain persistent challenges.

These communities already contend with structural inequality, limited access to resources, and constrained household incomes. In this context, punitive measures that undermine the functionality of schools risk compounding existing social inequities rather than addressing them.

Section 29(1)(a) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, guarantees everyone the right to a basic education. Unlike other socioeconomic tights that are subject to progressive realisation, the right to basic education is immediately realisable. This means that the state bears a direct and ongoing obligation to ensure that no pupil is denied meaningful access to education.