The first day of school was disrupted this morning in Sithembile, Glencoe, where protesting residents again blocked roads in and out of the township with burning tyres and other obstacles.

The protest action started on Monday morning following prolonged water outages caused by, according to Umzinyathi District Municipality, a pump breakdown at the Tayside extraction point, and ‘challenges over infrastructure’.

While Mayor Mchunu and other officials did address residents, they were not happy as they said no solutions were put forward.

Traffic on the main Glencoe/Wasbank road had to be diverted to either the old Wasbank/Dundee road or the Sunset Rest Road.

Traffic came to a stand still due to protests on the main Glencoe/Wasbank road. Photo: Supplied.Endumeni Speaker Andile Nsibande told the Courier he and other officials were ‘rushing to Sithembile this morning’ in a bid to ease tensions.

There has been no further comment from Umzinyathi regarding the water issues affecting Endumeni, but sources claimed the pumps at Tayside (on the Buffalo River) have broken down ‘and are in pieces in a workshop.

The sources further claimed that the backup pump is too small to handle the workload. Neither claim could be confirmed.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Like our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram or email us at dundee.courier@caxton.co.za. Add us on WhatsApp 071 277 1394.