ABSTRACT
An overview is provided in this chapter of access to essential services in the city of Johannesburg, as well as of political and legal struggles over the mode of such access. After traversing insurgent practices of access to services across the city, the formation and activities of service-related social movements, as well as ‘service delivery protests’ across several Johannesburg townships, the focus moves to attempts to assert rights to receive essential urban services through litigation. The chapter accordingly critically evaluates South African courts’ judgments in cases concerning service delivery, and contemplates the notion of urban citizenship emanating from these judgments.
