A handful of residents of Kleinskool in Port Elizabeth were still burning tyres in the streets by 9am on Tuesday morning, in protest over alleged poor service delivery, Eastern Cape police said.
Inspector Johan van Greunen said 10 people from the area set the tyres alight early in the morning, demanding to see Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Nceba Faku.
”They have not threatened any further violence. However, traffic was minimally obstructed,” Van Greunen said.
Van Greunen said residents complained the municipality was neglecting them and was very slow in the delivery of low-cost housing.
He said there were no major disturbances in the area and that police were monitoring the situation.
Municipal spokesperson Kupido Baron said provincial government officials were going to visit the area at 4pm on Tuesday.
Baron said the Kleinskool residents are squatting on private land in Kliprand.
”We had negotiated with the owner of the land to sell it to us some years ago, but he declined. We have identified another place, Chatty, where we can move them to,” Baron said.
He said that shacks will be built for the residents at Chatty and that Reconstruction and Development Programme houses will be erected once the municipality can afford to do so.
Kupido could not say when the relocation will get under way.
”The officials visiting the area today will explain to the residents what will happen. But, at the moment, the situation there is volatile,” he said. — Sapa