workingclasshistory:

On this day, 5 October 2004, residents of Chiawelo, Phiri and Dlamini in Soweto, South Africa, and blocked Johannesburg Water from installing prepaid water meters, which they could not afford.
They blockaded the Old Potch road, and resisted police who used stun grenades and made numerous arrests to try to clear protesters. As of the following year, the water company had still been unable to install the meters.
After taking power in 1994, the African National Congress government had followed advice from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, which resulted in widespread privatisation of utilities which resulted in huge price increases: in some cases by up to 600%, alongside millions of cut-offs.
Pictured: Water protest in Cape Town, 2018 https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1823488901169585/?type=3