Durban - Community members from the Pelgrim informal settlement blockaded Old Main Road in Isipingo in anger on Monday after a request to meet the mayor of eThekwini Municipality to discuss housing did not materialise.
Provincial police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala said public order police were deployed to monitor the protest action that erupted early on Monday morning after community members blockaded Old Main Road.
Metro police spokesperson Boysie Zungu said it was a service delivery protest over housing.
“A representative from the mayor’s office came to listen to the complaints from the community and that’s how the matter was resolved,” said Zungu.
In an update to residents on his Facebook on Monday night, councillor Shad Nowbuth said he had met a delegation of six representatives from the Pelgrim informal settlement who were involved in the protest to hear their grievances.
“The reason given for their protest action was that the aggrieved community wanted a meeting with the mayor of eThekwini (Mxolisi Kaunda) immediately regarding an undertaking that he had given at a meeting held in 2019 with the community of Pelgrim regarding the construction of housing (Pelgrim Housing) which should have started in 2021,” he said.
Nowbuth said as the mayor was unavailable to meet the community, a meeting has been arranged in consultation with the mayor’s office for Thursday.
“This was relayed to the community at large assembled in the Sayan Road Park,” he said.
He added that all attempts were being taken to have a peaceful resolution to the challenges being encountered.
Chairperson of the Isipingo Community Police Forum (CPF) Aidan David said the protest was disappointing as law enforcement was given ample warning about it.
“There were messages on social media warning of this protest action because on Friday some community members of the Pelgrim informal settlement had a meeting with eThekwini officials and the meeting never went as well as they expected. So they decided to burn the road and make their point of their disappointment about what happened,” he said.
David believes the fact that public order police cannot be called in prior to people rioting or protesting is a threat to the community.
“I see this as a threat to the community of Isipingo because the residents had to be delayed in going to work, children were even late for school and businesses had to lose their income because of this protest,” he said.
He said police responded to the protest two hours after it had begun.
“We have tried and still try to bring about social cohesion in the informal and formal sectors of our society, but it looks as if we are failing dismally,” said David.
eThekwini Municipality did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.