‘We had to burn tyres for water’: Coronationville erupts as Joburg mayor scrambles to act

For the people of Coronationville and Westbury, the right to water has felt like a luxury for years. This week, patience ran out. Streets went up in flames as residents set tyres alight and blocked roads with rocks and rubbish, demanding something as basic as a working tap.

Their protests finally forced Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero to face them directly. But after seven years of pleading and waiting, many say his promises have arrived too late.

Years of running dry

The water shortages in Coronationville are not new. Entire households have been rationing water for years, relying on buckets, neighbours, or expensive bottled supplies. Parents describe waking their children at midnight when taps occasionally trickled, just to fill containers.

“This isn’t just about waterit’s about dignity,” says resident Ebrahim Kruger, 50. “Why do we have to burn tyres to get the mayor here? We have the right to water without begging for it.”

Kruger’s frustration echoes across the community. For many, Morero’s pledge to send 15 water tankers felt more like an insult than a solution.

“Fifteen tanks are very small. We’ve been suffering for years. Now they tell us the infrastructure is old? They knew that all along but did nothing,” Kruger added.

The mayor’s defence

Speaking at a packed meeting at the Danie van Zyl Recreation Centre in Randburg, Morero admitted what residents had long suspected: the Commando System, the network that supplies their water, is outdated and badly deteriorating.

“There are bigger challenges of water supply in this area,” Morero conceded. “We are going to provide 15 water tankers immediately. We will redirect water from other areas to raise your reservoir levels. With these interventions, in the next seven days, you’ll have a full supply of water.”

But instead of reassurance, the announcement sparked outrage. Residents shouted back, accusing the city of only acting when people protest.

‘Too little, too late’

Another resident, who asked not to be named, was blunt: “If the city were competent and proactive, none of this would have happened. They knew the water systems were old and damaged. If they had fixed them years ago, we would not be here.”

That sense of betrayal is what fuels the protests. The community is not just angry about broken pipesit is angry about being ignored. For years, the shortages have been met with stopgap measures, while billions are spent elsewhere in the city.

A broken system, a broken trust

Morero admitted the failures, saying an “integrated refurbishment strategy” is on the table. But he offered no timeline for when residents can expect lasting change. Instead, he hinted at cutting water in other parts of Johannesburg at night to push relief faster to Coronationville.

That promise did little to calm tensions. The meeting eventually collapsed into chaos, forcing police to escort Morero and his delegation out of the venue as residents refused to disperse.

Bigger than Coronationville

South Africa’s water crises have become a grim pattern, from Hammanskraal to Giyani to Johannesburg. What unites them is a mix of ageing infrastructure, poor planning, and political inertia. Coronationville is simply the latest flashpoint.

For residents, the anger is about more than taps running dry. It is about seven years of being treated as if their suffering did not matter.

And while 15 water tankers may buy the city a week, the real test will be whether Joburg finally invests in rebuilding a system that should never have been allowed to collapse.

{Source: IOL}

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