Tree trunks and rubble burned across busy Kragga Kamma Road at dawn on Wednesday as angry Grogro informal settlement residents took their long-running service delivery grievances to the streets.
After protesters allegedly threw stones at SAPS members, special unit Public Order Policing (POP) responded with stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.
At least two women were injured.
But in the aftermath of the chaos — for now at least — Grogro residents remain in limbo.
While the community is demanding basic services such as water and electricity, the municipality has cited legal and financial constraints as the reason for the delay.
Wednesday’s protest left smoke in the air and blood on the tar.
The mother of a 25-year-old woman who was among the crowd, said her daughter was allegedly shot in the eye by the police at close range.
Traffic was diverted as firefighters doused the flames and SAPS members were deployed to contain the unrest.
Police spokesperson Captain Andre Beetge confirmed the motive behind the blockade was service delivery issues.
“The POP [unit] was deployed to the scene,” he said.
At the time of publication, police were still monitoring the situation.
“At about 9am, stones were thrown at the police members and POP members reacted by throwing a stun grenade and using rubber bullets to disperse the crowd,” Beetge said.
“In the process, a 25-year-old woman was injured.
“The extent of her injuries are unknown as she was [transported from the scene] for treatment.”
By 10am, he said, the crowd was seen sitting next to the road, awaiting the arrival of Bay mayor Babalwa Lobishe.
The injured woman’s mother said her daughter was standing beside the blockaded road when she was allegedly shot.
“I was standing on the other side of the road,” she said, adding that she watched the ordeal unfold.
“I thought my baby was going to die when she was shot on the head.
“I started to feel weak. I don’t know how quickly I got to her. I am still feeling dizzy and nauseous.”
She said when she reached her daughter, she was bleeding profusely.
“I cried bitterly because there was nothing I could do.
“I hated feeling so helpless.”
She said she was then rushed to Livingstone Hospital in a private vehicle.
Silvia Mali, 62, who suffers from high blood pressure, said she was also struck by rubber bullets.
“We do not get service delivery for water and electricity,” she said.
“We have been asking for these services for a long time, yet we do not get them.
“They [local government] come to us and lie.
“We were promised two transformers as well as water.”
She said residents relied on collecting rainwater and that scarce rainfall had left them running out.
The residents, some of them elderly, then had to walk long distances to collect water.
“We keep that water to help my 19-year-old schoolgoing daughter stay clean.
“It is also hard for mothers with newborns.”
She said she had a pounding headache after allegedly being shot on her left shoulder and right hip.
“My blood pressure has definitely gone up and my neck is sore.
“I fell when the police started shooting.
“As I got up, I was shot again.”
Service delivery protests in Grogro started in about 2022.
The settlement has long been plagued by illegal electricity connections, leading to repeated confrontations between residents, police and neighbouring communities.
In 2023, two men were electrocuted due to illegal connections.
On November 14, council officials confirmed they could not proceed with installing a transformer on private land.
Community leader Zukile Futa, 46, who has lived in Grogro for 17 years, said residents were still waiting for a transformer he claimed had been promised to them by deputy mayor Gary van Niekerk at the time.
“Our children wrote and finished.
“We then waited, but no-one was answering our calls or messages.
“We then made the decision to return to the streets because they made promises that did not materialise.”
He said the police had allegedly shot at and treated them like animals on Wednesday.
“Life in Grogro is very hard,” Futa said.
“Our children wrote their exams without electricity.
“We have about six toilets for about 1,500 people.”
He said that in addition to sometimes having to buy water, the elderly were forced to pay an extra delivery fee — and it was money they simply did not have.
Lobishe arrived at the scene on Wednesday accompanied by mayoral committee members Thembinkosi Mafana (human settlements) and Ziyanda Mnqokoyi (electricity and energy), along with various other senior municipal officials.
Lobishe told the residents they had two options — relocate to Baywest North, which was municipal land, or await the outcome of negotiations with the private landowner of Grogro.
Lobishe said they could not install a transformer and other infrastructure at the current site because the land was privately owned.
“He [landowner] said if we put anything up, it means we have agreed on the R80m wanted for the land.”
Lobishe and the community finally agreed to have professionals on site at 10am on Thursday to re-evaluate the land.
Feedback was to be provided at 1pm.
Lobishe said the Baywest North land did not have bulk services such as water and sanitation infrastructure, but that the municipality would be able to provide them, with further services to be implemented in the next financial year.
Mafana said there were about 156 informal settlements in the metro and denied that the city had forgotten about Grogro.
Mnqokoyi said they were committed to bringing services to the community.
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