One step forward, two steps back: A review of Mushoriwa v City of Harare in view of Zimbabwe's constitutional socio-economic rights

Abstract

SUMMARY In 2013 Zimbabwe enacted a new Constitution, introducing a raft of new changes, among them, the introduction of constitutional socio-economic rights. Not soon thereafter socio-economic rights were tested in the case of Mushoriwa v City of Harare in 2014. The High Court made a finding in favour of the applicant, a decision which enforced the right to water in section 77 of the Constitution. The ruling offered the view that the water bylaws used were unconstitutional and contrary to the enabling statute. This judgment was welcomed as a 'first true test' of socio-economic rights under the 2013 Constitution. In Hove v City of Harare the High Court judge agreed with the reasoning of the Court in Mushoriwa v City of Harare that, in the event of a genuine dispute of a water bill, there should be a recourse to the courts for remedies. In 2018, however, the Supreme Court overturned the decision in the Mushoriwa case. It declared that water disconnections in terms of the water bylaw are above board. This raises questions as to the constitutional obligation to protect the right to water imposed upon all organs of the state. It is against this background that this article reviews the case of Mushoriwa and makes comments on the effects of this judgment, specifically about the enforcement of socio-economic rights in Zimbabwe. Keywords: constitutionality; right to water; Mushoriwa; socio-economic rights

Access to Water in Rural Zimbabwe: the Realities of the Adoption of the Human Right to Water in Mtelo Village, Zhombe

“…10 Alex Bolding et al also argue that due to historical reasons access to water resources in Zimbabwe was skewed along racial lines, with a minority white commercial farming community having access to the bulk of the country's water resources to the disadvantage of the majority black or smallholder farmers. 11 Campbell notes that water allocation in the colonial period was based on the conception of starving Africans of land and water, 12 two of the country's most critical resources. The main motive of the colonial water policy was to systematically impoverish Africans so that they could supply cheap labour to the white-owned farms and mines.…”