diff --git a/jsonnet/kube-prometheus/prometheus-operator/prometheus-operator.libsonnet b/jsonnet/kube-prometheus/prometheus-operator/prometheus-operator.libsonnet
index c1003ebf1544ee64bbba7eca8fb772b0f87de06a..3286402632eb3decc8241537304a1ae197d14bdf 100644
--- a/jsonnet/kube-prometheus/prometheus-operator/prometheus-operator.libsonnet
+++ b/jsonnet/kube-prometheus/prometheus-operator/prometheus-operator.libsonnet
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ local k = import 'ksonnet/ksonnet.beta.3/k.libsonnet';
                             policyRule.withResources([
                               'namespaces',
                             ]) +
-                            policyRule.withVerbs(['list']);
+                            policyRule.withVerbs(['list', 'watch']);
 
       local rules = [extensionsRule, apiExtensionsRule, monitoringRule, appsRule, coreRule, podRule, routingRule, nodeRule, namespaceRule];