British water workers witness impact of privatisation on South African poor

The five workers from Northumbrian Water, Essex and Suffolk Water and Yorkshire Water – who are all members of Unison, Britain’s largest public sector union – are accompanying anti-poverty charity War on Want on a solidarity delegation to meet the South African communities and workers affected by water privatisation.

The parent company of Northumbrian Water and Essex and Suffolk Water, the French Suez-Lyonnaise group, operates private water contracts in South Africa. Recent experiments in utility privatisation in South Africa have left poor families worse off than they were under the crippling grip of apartheid. In 2000, the privatisation of the country’s water supply was blamed for an outbreak of cholera in the Kwazulu Natal that killed 220 and infected 100,000.

The aim of the delegation is to develop understanding of the social and economic affects of private sector involvement in the water sector in both developed and developing countries, and build solidarity between trade unionists in Britain and South Africa.

War on Want’s overseas partners, including the Anti-Privatisation Forum in South Africa, have been at the forefront of campaigns to keep essential services in the public sector.

War on Want Campaigns Officer, Nick Dearden, said the point of the delegation was, "To build practical links between workers in different countries who work for the same company. The struggle for public services in Britain is intrinsically connected with the struggle against poverty in developing countries. Only by uniting can we hope to build a better world for everyone".