Protesters blocking roads near Sithembile leading into Glencoe this morning were demanding a R500 ‘toll-fee’ to let vehicles through.

Tree branches and burning tyres have been dragged across the roads.

Those who contacted the Courier this morning said the protest was sparked following a prolonged water outage that has affected both Glencoe and Dundee over the past week.

The road has since been reopened, and SAPS are monitoring the situation. Sources close to the protest told the Courier that the ‘roads will be blocked again once SAPS leave’.

Umzinyathi has blamed the outage on failed pumps at the Tayside extraction point on the Buffalo River, a faulty pump near Sterkstroom and a power outage at the Biggarsberg reservoir.

In Glencoe, the issue has been exacerbated by poor infrastructure and the inability of the pumps to fill the reservoir feeding the Glencoe area.

It is not yet clear if SAPS are monitoring the situation in Glencoe