A truck that was torched on the N2 on Sunday night during a service delivery protest.
KwaZulu-Natal police are investigating a case of public violence after protestors torched two trucks and blocked traffic on the N2 highway near Chesterville, south of Durban, on Sunday night, with the violence continuing into Monday morning.
Video footage of the burning trucks was shared widely on security and traffic social media groups after angry protestors, allegedly fed up with water outages in their community, started burning tyres and rubble on the highway, bringing traffic to a standstill on the N2 southbound from around 6.30pm.
“Cato Manor police are investigating a case of public violence, following an incident in which the community of Chesterville gathered on N2 southbound yesterday, and started burning tyres and blocking the freeway,” Constable Thenjiswa Ngcobo, KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson for SAPS, said.
“It is alleged that two trucks were set alight by the protesters. There were no injuries reported. Public order police as well as all other law enforcement agencies responded to ensure that the road was cleared and reopened to traffic.”
eThekwini metro police spokesperson Boysie Zungu confirmed that two trucks were burned on the freeway.
“(There have been) no arrests at this stage. SAPS is investigating the matter,” Zungu said. By Monday morning, traffic was flowing freely.
eThekwini caucus leader for the DA, Thabani Mthethwa, said the protests were about service delivery failures.
“The protest, I’m told, was because of water outages. There have been several violent protests in the area before because of water and electricity infrastructure, which is failing to meet the demand,” Mthewthwa said.
“The infrastructure is failing as a result of years of neglect and insufficient funding allocated. Ethekwini spends less than 10% of its maintenance budget every year as a result the infrastructure failures.”
eThekwini municipality head of communications, Lindiwe Khuzwayo, said parts of the Chesterville Extension area were affected by a circuit breaker trip after the recent storm.
“Teams were urgently dispatched to work on repairs and restoration of supply. Over the weekend, a portion of Chesterville fed through the Mayville major substation lost supply due to a cable fault that was then repaired and supply was restored. The city apologises for the inconvenience caused by both incidents,” Khuzwayo said.
“The city continues to fight against illegal connections, bypassed meters and vandalism to
infrastructure through Operation Khuculula and regular sweeps championed by the city’s
Revenue Protection Branch. Illegal connections don’t just compromise our network but also put people’s lives at risk.”
She said the city condemned the violent protests.
“We respect the right of communities to make their voices heard, but this cannot be done through damage to property and through putting the lives of others at risk,” Khuzwayo said.
The latest violent protest on the N2 is the second in two months. On 29 May protesters, angry about constant electricity blackouts, torched a car carrier transporting six new vehicles near Chesterville and Nsimbini, causing estimated damages of R29 million, according to a police report at the time.