Protests continued for the second consecutive day in Durban’s Sea Cow Lake area, disrupting the morning rush hour traffic on Tuesday.
Police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Thulani Zwane said that protests had taken place along Inanda Drive near the N2, but police had dispersed the protesters.
The protests follow those that took place on Monday which closed off the entire Springfield Park industrial area.
Zwane said that five people were arrested on Monday after protests that had seen the torching of more than 30 cars, most of which had been dragged from scrap yards, and a number of lorries.
Zwane said police continued to monitor the situation on Tuesday morning.
While Zwane would not confirm what the protests were about, the eThekwini Metro Municipal spokeswoman Tozi Mthethwa said in a statement issued late on Monday night that the protests were not related to service delivery.
eThekwini Metro Police spokesman Superintendent Sbonelo Mchunu had said on Monday that the protests had been sparked by “disgruntled people who were not elected”.
Many of the protesters were wearing yellow African National Congress T-shirts emblazoned with the face of President Jacob Zuma.
The area is ward 34 and it is understood that those protesting are unhappy with the selection of candidates for the upcoming local government elections on 3 August 2016.
However, speaking at a press conference on Monday, the ANC’s provincial secretary Super Zuma said: “We don’t understand why there should be protests. If they are having a problem [with the nomination of candidates] they should have raised that through the correct processes”.
Zuma said that he believed that these were people who were simply unwilling to accept the outcome of the detailed nomination processes that had taken place over the past few months.
Referring to Monday’s protests, he said: “Those are criminal acts of individuals and it has nothing to do with the ANC”.
During the course of Monday night and the early hours of Tuesday morning protests also took place on the M19, near the interchange with the N2 highway.
There was an unconfirmed report of a minibus being stoned by protesters while old vehicles and tyres were burnt and placed as barricades on Sea Cow Lake Road.
Social media platforms were again abuzz with warnings, unconfirmed incidents and reports of road closures.
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