Angry residents from Ekuphuleni Township barricaded the R72 at the Kenton-on-Sea intersection with burning tyres on Monday 25 May, pelting passing vehicles with stones.
Angry residents from Ekuphuleni Township barricaded the R72 at the Kenton-on-Sea intersection with burning tyres on Monday 25 May, pelting passing vehicles with stones.
The protest which started around 5.30am was over dissatisfaction with the poor delivery of RDP houses.
Merry Hill resident Jako Bezuidenhout had a hard time trying to make his way past the fiery protest on to the R72.
The Rhodes History student said the protesters became aggressive when he tried to drive past the barricade.
He said trying to take photographs of the situation infuriated the protesters even more.
"They kept asking where I was going and tried to block me from driving past," he said.
The situation, according to Bezuidenhout, had the potential to get out of control, but he managed to slip away before anything happened.
"I had to drive towards oncoming traffic as five guys tried to stop me while I drove on the grass near the road," he said.
Bezuidenhout described the situation as non-aggressive, apart from the few encounters he had with the people who tried to block him.
"The mood was tense, but not volatile, but I felt it could easily have become volatile," he said.
Bezuidenhout said police were at the scene for a short period.
Councillor of Ward 4 in Ndlambe Municipality Zache Ngxingo told Grocott's Mail that corruption and lack of good communication between executive mayor Sipho Tandani and the people had affected the situation and was part of the cause of the protest.
“People are tired of the mayor’s empty promises and [his failure to attend]meetings with the people. They are tired of living in the shacks and the only way they could be heard is by voicing [their frustration," Ngxingo said.
Asked if there are any possibilities that the housing project would begin this year, Ngxingo said, “I have received an email which promised that by mid-July the project will commence."
However, Ngxingo was unconvinced, saying such promises had been made before.
The frustrated residents have given the mayor four days to address the issue and say if they don’t hear from him, they will resume their protest.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) also weighed in on the situation saying they sympathised with the residents of the area, but condemned the violence which had taken place during the protest.
DA Member on Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Tourism Andrew Whitfield, who is also the party's Frontier constituency leader, said the "illegal" protest that took place on the R72 outside Kenton on Sea is a result of a frustrated community that has been ignored by the Ndlambe municipality for too long.
Whitfield was quick to point out that the party was against the manner in which the residents demonstrated their frustration.
"The DA condemns violent protests that threaten innocent by standers, disrupt traffic and place the lives of protesters and motorists at risk," he said.
Whitfield also criticised Ndlambe Municipality for their failure to respond swiftly to the residents' grievances.
He said the DA believes Ndlambe Municipality should have acted sooner to prevent the protest.
"The grievances raised by Ekuphumleni residents are not new and have in fact been championed by DA councillor Jocelyn Guest on a number of occasions with no positive response from the municipality," Whitfield said.
Whitfield said the DA would take action and engage with the human settlements department on a memorandum of demands from the residents.
"During the course of this week I will be engaging with the Human Settlements officials who received the letter of demand from the community to determine what their plan is going forward," he said.
"I will also be meeting with residents of Ward 4 on Friday this week to hear their grievances and take these matters up through Parliament and I will also refer these issues to my colleagues in Bhisho."
The R72 is a busy coastal route, which links East London, Port Elizabeth, Grahamstown via Port Alfred.
On one side of the intersection where the protests took place is the entrance to Kenton-on-Sea.
On the other is the start of the R343 to Grahamstown.
Police spokesman Lieutenant Luvuyo Mjekula said the protest was a legal gathering, but police had stepped in when protesters started burning tyres and blocking tra ffic.
Mjekula said there was a stakeholders meeting on Friday and the community was given permission to stage a legal protest.
"When we saw that they had barricaded the road with burning tyres we called Public Order Police to handle the situation," he said.
Mjekula said police tried to get the protesters to move away from the road so they could clear the rubble, to no avail.
When they refused to move, public order police then fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowd, according to Mjekula.
A stand-off ensued afterwards as the residents started throwing stones at the police officers who fired rubber bullets.
Mjekula said police vehicles were damaged by stone-throwing protesters, but no arrests were made.
He said a representative of the human settlements department arrived and addressed them and accepted their memorandum of demands.
The crowd dispersed around 1pm and the road was cleared.
anele@grocotts.co.za
*Changed to reflect correct date: Monday 25 May
