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Residents of Westbury, Coronationville, Newlands and surrounding communities block roads with burning tyres, rocks and branches during a protest over water shortage in Johannesburg
Residents of Westbury in Johannesburg and surrounding areas have vowed to continue protesting until Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero has visited the community and addressed them.
Locals want answers over the ongoing water outage and have taken to the streets to protest.
Police earlier responded to the protests with rubber bullets.
Angry residents are asking why they should bear the brunt of South Africa’s severe water shortages.
“All we are asking is for water. There is gun violence happening every day, people are dying here and you don’t see this. We are having a peaceful protest yet they can do this, to us shoot us like we are animals and yet we are fighting for our basic rights.”
“Things will get ugly here because gunshots are going off in our township. In our areas where there’s hospitals, clinics, schools our water has been cut off while others are having water.”
“Cyril must go, Dada must go and the water board must go because they’ve been paid millions but there are no solutions.”
Westbury community leaders call on government to intervene amid protest action – Community leader Melissa Davids elaborates:
Ebony Park
Meanwhile, in Ebony Park, Midrand, frustrated residents also rallied against the ongoing water crisis that continues to disrupt daily life.
Authorities remain on high alert as communities demand urgent action.
Meanwhile, Morero, says teams are working around the clock to ensure that water supply is fully restored to Westbury and Coronationville.
Morero is calling on protestors to allow the City of Joburg time to resolve the issue.
“So I want to apologise to communities this side and we are doing everything we can to get the system to recover and once it reaches a certain percentage, we will be able to provide water and there will be no need for us to do throttling…so we are requesting for a bit of patience and we know they are really affected.”
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has reiterated Morero’s comments, saying that the concerns of residents have been heard and government is working to restore supply.
[WATCH] Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi responds to water protests in Westbury and other areas, assuring residents that their concerns have been heard and government is working to restore supply. pic.twitter.com/XT1cwpNuzq
— SABC News (@SABCNews) September 10, 2025
