Law enforcement authorities have been deployed to the ever-busy R69 highway in Louwsburg, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) after reports surfaced of intense protests.
Watch: Louwsburg protesters dig trench on R69 road
On Wednesday morning, motorists who rely on the route that connects Vryheid to Pongola were met with heavy traffic congestion. This traffic backlog, according to footage that’s leaked on social media, was caused by a deep trench that was dug by protesting Louwsburg residents.
05/05/2021#RIOTS
— RIOT & ATTACK info South Africa (@RiotAndAttackSA) May 5, 2021
Caution protesting residents dug out a trench across the R69 road, please exercise caution in the area. pic.twitter.com/hTTtE6mlKP
At this time, the community’s leadership has not come forth with a statement to shed light on the motivation behind the protests.
However, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this level of unrest in the KZN community. As reported by Northern Natal News, similar scenes were witnessed on the same stretch of road, in March 2019.
At the time, the Louwsburg community was up in arms over poor service delivery and lack of communication from the town’s mayor.
It seems, two years later, disgruntlement over the state of affairs in the KZN town has persisted.
Road closures for Tuesday 5 May 2021
At the time this article was published, law enforcement authorities were working on ways to get the R69 road back up and running. In the interim, motorists have been advised to make use of alternative routes while the trench is being tended to.
This is a developing story.