The R62 between Worcester and Robertson in the Boland is to re-open on Thursday morning after it was closed when around 300 people blocked the route with burning tyres and dumped debris to protest the lack of service delivery to the De Doorns township, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reports.
Captain Randall Stoffels told French news agency AFP that police had fired rubber bullets to disperse the protesters on Wednesday.
Three protesters were arrested and charged with inciting public violence while two policemen and two civilians were injured in clashes, said Stoffels.
Last week residents converged on the Worcester municipal offices, demanding the provision of houses and accelerated service delivery.
A fourth person was arrested in a separate demonstration near the sprawling township of Khayelitsha outside Cape Town where 80 people blocked a road and threw stones at police, AFP reported.
The protesters carried banners in Khayelitsha that read ”No Land, No House, No Vote!”, referring to a threat to boycott local government elections scheduled to be held before March next year.
Demonstrators said they were angry at local officials who they accused of lending a deaf ear to their demands for better housing.
”If it means we must make this country ungovernable, we will do so until they listen to our demands,” said community spokesperson Mziwonke Poni shortly before police arrested him near a major highway that leads into the city centre.
”They will clean today, we will come tomorrow,” shouted one demonstrator after police removed burning tyres from the highway to allow traffic to move on.
The protest is the latest following others around the country over the past few months. – Sapa