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No water for 24 days, Joburg protesters scream at city leaders

Hundreds of angry, frustrated and thirsty residents of Johannesburg’s Melville, Parktown West and Emmarentia suburbs protested against a prolonged water outage in their suburbs on Wednesday.

Joburg Residents protest against the water supply failure in Emmarentia, Johannesburg, on 11 February 2025. (Photo: OUR CITY NEWS / Alaister Russell)

By Our City News

11 Feb 2026

In Melville, chanting protesters with posters occupied the corner of Main Road and 4th Avenue – with passing motorists hooting in solidarity. In Parktown West, along Jan Smuts Avenue, residents did the same. Parktown resident and Comrades Marathon legend Bruce Fordyce joined the protest.

At 4pm, Emmarentia residents came out in full force to protest along Barry Hertzog and Judith Roads. Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation David Mahlobo and other officials arrived in Emmarentia to try to quell the protest. However, residents shouted them down when they tried to address the large gathering.

Proceedings moved to Marks Park, where mayor Dada Morero arrived shortly after 5.20pm. He was later expected to meet members of the Kensington community over the constant water outages.

Melville has not had water for 24 days, yet there has been no official explanation for the cause. Johannesburg Water continues to say that it is investigating, but so far, residents have been left asking questions and getting no answers. As the crowds dissipated and night fell, the taps remained dry at the end of Day 24.