Standoff escalates as Coronationville residents protest against water shortages

A day-long standoff between the residents of Coronationville, near Westbury, Johannesburg, and the members of the Gauteng police intensified on Wednesday, culminating in the use of rubber bullets and stun grenades.

At the centre of the protest is the irregular water supply, which has plagued the community for over three weeks now.

Residents report experiencing water outages for up to two days at a time. The community has expressed a desire to no longer rely on water tankers, alleging that these services are responsible for infrastructure sabotage.

tense standoff ensued after the community reported at least 11 injuries from police rubber bullets used for dispersal.

However, Gauteng police spokesperson, Colonel Mavela Masando, denied claims of fatalities.

Grace Lewis, a 72-year-old pensioner from the area, stated: "I have been living here in Coronationville for the past 60 years, and for the past eight years, things have become worse, and we have experienced hell with no drop water coming out of our taps in the last seven days. As a 72-year-old woman, this cannot be tolerated as we are forced to carry our own water for long distances."

Amid demands for the mayor, Dada Morero, to address them, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi and Morero apologised and pleaded for patience from frustrated residents after they embarked on protests over water shortages across the municipality.

Earlier, Lesufi said his administration acknowledged and apologised profusely for what he described as an unfortunate turn of events.

"These are matters we are grappling with almost daily. The reality is that our people are unemployed. Even if they are unemployed, it does not mean we must deny them water, electricity, and access to sewers. We must have a balance and ensure that those who are not capable of paying continue to have services," he said.

Lesufi said it was unfortunate that the numbers are increasing and there are many people that are coming into the province, the infrastructure is ageing, municipalities are finding it very difficult to build new infrastructure, and the demon of corruption cannot be ruled out.

"I can assure you the matter of water has been brought to our attention, the executive mayor (Morero) has brought some immediate suggestions that he wants us to attend to bring all the water suppliers, especially Rand Water," he added.

According to Lesufi, on Tuesday, he had emergency discussions with Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina, all the province's mayors, as well as MECs responsible for the function, so that the matter can be resolved and attended to.

"I want to assure those communities that are on the streets, those that are raising matters, your voice has been heard, we are working extremely hard to ensure that we reconnect water to them. It's an ageing infrastructure, but it's also vandalism and those who think they can connect illegally," he explained.

He said, unfortunately, the anger is directed at the government and not to those who are destroying state infrastructure.

Morero blamed the water shortages on the Eikenhof pump station, which had some technical problems that it experienced a few days ago, and indicated that the system has to recover, and this takes time and forces the municipality to do throttling to allow the recovery.

Another angry resident, Eugene Dooms of One Force SA, accused the city administration of not caring about Coloured people. He said police opened fire on residents just for striking for their basic human right - water.

"They turn our taps on and off in this area, Coronationville, while the neighbouring area has a constant water supply. They just turn it on for a little bit and off again. So we are striving to end that. Even the water tanker that came, the water is undrinkable," Dooms said.

He said that as a community, they feel they are being marginalised.

Responding to the accusations that the police employed the use of stun grenades and rubber bullets on peaceful protesters, Masondo said police were forced to use rubber bullets in their efforts to rein in an angry crowd that had blocked roads, resulting in the redirection of traffic in the area.

"Police responded to the community protest that turned out to be violent at Coronationville and Westbury on Wednesday, 10 September 2025. The protesters blockaded the roads with burning tyres and rocks. As the police were approaching, the protesters started throwing stones at the police. To disperse the violent protesters, the police had to use rubber bullets. One suspect was arrested. One of the shops was looted, and the shop owner was assaulted. Police have since opened a case of public violence for further investigation," he said.

Meanwhile, in Kokosi in the Merafong Local Municipality, where the community has been without water for over three weeks, a water tanker was dispatched on Tuesday but allegedly started demanding payment for water, targeting sangomas, churches, and other vulnerable groups.

Merafong Municipality did not respond to questions at the time of publication.

siyabonga.sithole@inl.co.za