WATCH: Water outage in Leopard’s Rest enters day 9 as residents protest

Leopard’s Rest residents blocked off the intersection of JG Strydom and Kliprivier Roads with burning tyres on Thursday in a protest over a water outage. 

According to the protesters, they are staging a peaceful protest over a water interruption lasting 9 days.

The fuming protestors are calling on the municipality to urgently intervene. They demand clear commitment from the municipality and want to see contractors on-site before they will accept the claims of water being restored. 

Jones Zondo, Coordinator for service delivery from the mayor’s office said the community should wait until Saturday for the water to be fixed. 

The residents need the memorandum of demand to be handed over to the municipal offices.

The demands are stated below: 

The residents have been denied a basic human right to water and have had interruptions of hygiene and sanitation in the middle of a pandemic.

“We have been without water for the past 9 days to date. We find this unscrupulous with various inaccurate information from the Ekurhuleni municipality.”

We, therefore, demand the restoration of water in Leopard’s Rest and surrounding areas with immediate effect. Failure to comply, we will mobilise neighbouring communities affected to stand in solidarity with us.

We give the municipality less than 24 hours to restore the water, failing which will take our action to R59 highway, blocking roads from all directions.

“We want water that’s all,” concludes the memorandum. 

SAPS and EMPD are at the scene to monitor the situation

An update will follow as soon as more information becomes available. Motorists are advised to avoid the area and use alternative routes.