Police fire rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas at Joburg water protest

A protester in Westbury, Johannesburg holds his hands in the air as police approach. Photos: Ihsaan Haffejee

Police fired rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas at people protesting against water outages in Johannesburg. Protesters GroundUp spoke to said they had been without water for over four days and there had been intermittent water for weeks.

The protesters came from Westbury, Coronation, Newlands and surrounding communities. The protesters disrupted morning traffic but allowed scholar transport to pass. Most entry and exit points for areas surrounding Westbury were blocked with burning tyres and logs.

Police open fire with rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas.

Police opened fire outside the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital. Some demonstrators retaliated by stoning officers and their vehicles. There were running battles with protesters, who, as they were dispersed, moved from one intersection to the next. Meanwhile community leaders moved from street to street desperately trying to calm the situation.

Coronation resident Caren Jacobie said, “We are just asking for water, which is our human right. And the police have come and shot at us without warning, even as people were holding up their hands.”

“When we call the police when there is gang violence, they don’t come. But when we protest for water, they are here in full force.”

Near to the protest, GroundUp found resident Jason Pieters pushing a trolley filled with bottles of water provided by a business that has a borehole. He said he has a household of six and has to make four to five trips a day to collect enough water for the family’s needs.

We also saw residents, including children, gathered at an abandoned sports field where people were filling buckets form a pipe gushing water. Sewage was overflowing from a nearby drain, but residents said they had no choice but to collect the water because the City of Johannesburg water tanker supply was insufficient.

Residents said they would continue to protest until they receive a reliable water supply from Joburg Water and the City.

Residents retaliated by throwing stones.

In a statement, Joburg Water said that it is “injecting over R800-million for a sustainable solution into resolving and improving the Commando Systems’ challenges”. (The Commando system supplies the areas affected by the water protests.)

Joburg Water said the main challenges for the system are insufficient bulk infrastructure, such as reservoirs, bulk lines and pump stations, making the system “enormously vulnerable to any disruptions”.

People gather water at an abandoned sports field where a pipe gushes water.

A resident shows where he was shot with a rubber bullet by the police.

Jason Pieters pushing a trolley with bottles of water for his family.

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