“because he was bringing division among the residents of Emjindini Trust and those from Emjindini Township”.

The demand comes after he allegedly failed to attend to the area’s water crisis.

Residents brought the village to a standstill last Thursday by blockading roads entering and exiting the area with rocks and burning tree trunks.

The protest apparently started on Wednesday evening, after the residents went two weeks without water. They accused Bhembe of being more focused on Emjindini Township, where he resides.

The area of Emjindini Trust previously stood as a separate ward before the amalgamation of Umjindi and Mbombela municipalities after the election.

Resident Thokozani Thwala told Barberton Times they were angered when they learned via rumour that the shortage of water was due to repairs of the existing reservoir.

“The councillor (Bhembe) does not care about our needs. We want a new councillor who will put the local residents’ needs first.

He should have given himself time to come and inform us about the possibilities of being without water for weeks and try and find alternatives. He, however, failed to do so.” said Thwala.

He added that, we have been without water for the past two weeks and he doesn’t respond to our pleas.”

He further said the residents were expecting the City of Mbombela Local Municipality (CMLM) to provide them with water truck tankers.

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According to the residents, a single water truck tanker was seen on a few occasions. They say it was, however, providing water during the day while most people were at work. They further accused the driver of isolating other sections of the area, only providing water to the areas where his girlfriends reside.

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Bhembe, accompanied by the municipal manager in the CMLM southern region Pat Msibi, Peter Marota manager for water and sanitation and Andisa Jafta engineering technician for water and sanitation, arrived later that day (of the protest) to address the community.

They were accompanied by the Hazyview Public Order Policing, Barberton SAPS and the CMLM By-Law Enforcement Unit.