By Akani Nkuna
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi said on Saturday that Rand Water had agreed to give Lesedi Local Municipality two weeks’ grace to sort out its finances, after violent service delivery protests in Ratanda over water outages left two people dead and the executive mayor’s property torched.
At a press briefing, Lesufi said he had been “in deep discussions” with Rand Water over the throttling of bulk water supply to the municipality, which had been implemented as part of the water board’s credit-control measures.
“We agreed that the municipality just needs two weeks to sort out its finances. There’s a grant that normally appears in the account of the municipality between the first and 15th of July. We need it as a bridge from what is outstanding from Rand Water,” Lesufi said.
He said the municipality would use its equitable share allocation to pay for its bulk water supply after the grace period.
Lesufi said water supply would be restored soon.
“And probably, as I’m speaking to you now, water is flowing back in that community.”
In a statement about the protests on Saturday, SALGA President, councillor Bheke Stofile, said: “While communities have a constitutional right to protest and express their dissatisfaction with service delivery, violence, intimidation, arson and other criminal acts have no place in a democratic society. Such actions endanger lives, destroy public and private property, and ultimately undermine the very service delivery improvements that communities seek.”
The association called for “constructive engagement” between municipalities and communities, saying residents should use established public participation channels to raise their concerns, while municipalities must communicate transparently about service delivery challenges, planned interventions, and progress in resolving them.
SALGA urged government entities to work together to resolve the grievances speedily, and called for calm and restraint to create an environment for dialogue and sustainable solutions.
“Sadly, reports indicate that two lives have already been lost as a result of the violent protests. SALGA conveys its heartfelt condolences to their families,” the association said.
As reported earlier by Inside Politics, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) is probing whether the deaths resulted from police action during the protests.
SALGA urged law enforcement agencies to ensure those responsible for the deaths were held accountable.
It said data from its Municipal Violence Incident Reporting System showed that between 2000 and 2026, there had been more than 400 incidents ranging from threats, property damage and assaults to deaths.
The association said the figures showed the need to strengthen law enforcement capacity to prevent and respond to such incidents.
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