Fed-up Joburg residents took to the streets recently to protest being without water for several days.
In a video shared by @ShakeelGarda on X (formerly Twitter), residents could be seen holding up placards calling for a constant supply of water from Hursthill Reservoir. All this while chanting Tyla’s hit song Water.
Tyla’s “Water” now used as a protest song as Joburg residents call for a consistent supply of water from Hursthill reservoir pic.twitter.com/rz0LglHG3F
— Shakeel Garda (@ShakeelGarda) July 2, 2024
The post went viral and gained more than 680K views and 250 comments. The fact that the ambiguous lyrics were being turned into a protest song wasn’t lost on X users.
They also made fun of the protestors’ lack of rhythm. @ThatBrothaMo joked: “The lack of a coherent rhythm in the banging together of empty containers.”
@A4ONE_President wrote: “@Tyllaaaaaaa becoming a struggle icon now..”
Joburg’s water supply has been erratic at times with residents not having access to proper drinking water for days at a time. Those living in the north started protesting following a nine-day water outage and said they have had enough of empty promises.
The Daily Sun reported that Rand Water’s 37-day maintenance project will only end on July 29, 2024. To stem the water shortage, water tankers have been supplying affected communities.
Dr Ferrial Adam, executive manager of WaterCAN, said the hardest-hit areas include Observatory, Kensington, Greenside, Emmarentia, Melville, North Riding, Crown Mines, Bergbron, Killarney, Witpoortjie and parts of Randburg.
She told Radio Islam: “Communication and information about the tankers and JoJo tanks have been very poor. Joburg Water needed more planning. It seems they reach an emergency and then wing it.”