installed for the residents to become aware of their monthly (or daily) consumption.
As described elsewhere, the meters have been removed by the residents. The
engineer has never tried the experiment, and the people continue “complaining” of
receiving water only once “a week, or every three weeks”, even after some
10–15 years after the recommendation was first made.
7.8.4 Treating People Differently
In a recent (August 2017) Bollywood movie, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, (transl. Toilet:
A Love Story), the story depicts the cultural reasons why people might be reluctant
to install toilets within the house or the premises. The film is a satirical comedy to
support government campaigns trying to improve sanitation conditions in India, with
an emphasis on the need to eradicate open defecation, particularly in rural areas.
Given the background, installing a sewerage system in such areas might be seen as a
scandal. In contrast, in July 2013 Julius Malema, founder of a new opposition party,
the Economic Freedom Fighters in South Africa complained that, 20 years after the
end of apartheid, many inhabitants of townships and informal settlements still
required access to proper sanitation. The advent of sanitation eventually became
an election issue, but raises an important question about the possibilities and limits of
an anthropology of infrastructure (von Schnitzler 2018).
Larkin (2013) has suggested that infrastructures operate at several different levels
concurrently. They function to enable, shape, and constrain the movement of people,
goods or ideas, but they can also grow into signs and symbols. Infrastructure can, not
only make us do things, or initiate change, but can also act through the outstanding
and the awe-inspiring as much as the ordinary and the commonplace. They can also
become objects of principles, channels of power, or be manipulated as political tools.
In some countries, inadequate infrastructure service deliveries have led to massive protests, which have not always been received with sympathy by the public and
the media. The protests have taken different forms such as:
1. the nonpayment of service charges;
2. the bypassing, tampering, or destruction of water and electricity meters; and
3. illegal connections to services.
While these actions might be understood under certain circumstances, they
become less so when the tariffs for the services are low compared to other consumer
goods which the people readily buy.
In South Africa, when prepaid meters (for water and electricity) were installed,
the protests started. The prepaid water meter are supposed to automatically dispense
a small volume (6 cubic metres) of water for free every month, beyond which
residents would have to purchase water credits from the local utility offices, in
order to avoid automatic self-disconnection. Unfortunately, the project had been
decided upon by the water utility without any consultation with the concerned
7.8 Social Aspects of Infrastructure
205
As described elsewhere, the meters have been removed by the residents. The
engineer has never tried the experiment, and the people continue “complaining” of
receiving water only once “a week, or every three weeks”, even after some
10–15 years after the recommendation was first made.
7.8.4 Treating People Differently
In a recent (August 2017) Bollywood movie, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, (transl. Toilet:
A Love Story), the story depicts the cultural reasons why people might be reluctant
to install toilets within the house or the premises. The film is a satirical comedy to
support government campaigns trying to improve sanitation conditions in India, with
an emphasis on the need to eradicate open defecation, particularly in rural areas.
Given the background, installing a sewerage system in such areas might be seen as a
scandal. In contrast, in July 2013 Julius Malema, founder of a new opposition party,
the Economic Freedom Fighters in South Africa complained that, 20 years after the
end of apartheid, many inhabitants of townships and informal settlements still
required access to proper sanitation. The advent of sanitation eventually became
an election issue, but raises an important question about the possibilities and limits of
an anthropology of infrastructure (von Schnitzler 2018).
Larkin (2013) has suggested that infrastructures operate at several different levels
concurrently. They function to enable, shape, and constrain the movement of people,
goods or ideas, but they can also grow into signs and symbols. Infrastructure can, not
only make us do things, or initiate change, but can also act through the outstanding
and the awe-inspiring as much as the ordinary and the commonplace. They can also
become objects of principles, channels of power, or be manipulated as political tools.
In some countries, inadequate infrastructure service deliveries have led to massive protests, which have not always been received with sympathy by the public and
the media. The protests have taken different forms such as:
1. the nonpayment of service charges;
2. the bypassing, tampering, or destruction of water and electricity meters; and
3. illegal connections to services.
While these actions might be understood under certain circumstances, they
become less so when the tariffs for the services are low compared to other consumer
goods which the people readily buy.
In South Africa, when prepaid meters (for water and electricity) were installed,
the protests started. The prepaid water meter are supposed to automatically dispense
a small volume (6 cubic metres) of water for free every month, beyond which
residents would have to purchase water credits from the local utility offices, in
order to avoid automatic self-disconnection. Unfortunately, the project had been
decided upon by the water utility without any consultation with the concerned
7.8 Social Aspects of Infrastructure
205