A government delegation will visit the volatile Isithebe area of Mandeni‚ in the north of KwaZulu-Natal‚ after crippling protest action this week.

In April‚ operations at the Isithebe Industrial Estate ground to a halt as angry protesters – complaining about the apparent re-nomination of the local municipality’s former mayor to retain his position as ward councillor in the August local government election – torched factories‚ cars‚ trucks and containers.

There was relative calm in the area in the weeks that followed‚ but tensions boiled to the surface this week.

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Operations at the estate ground to a halt after community members allegedly cut the water supply to the estate‚ the KZN economic development department said on Friday.

Newly appointed economic development MEC and ANC provincial chairman Sihle Zikalala‚ will visit the area on Saturday to restore calm.

The estate employs more than 20‚000 people and is “the main economic lifeblood of the Mandeni area”‚ Zikalala said in a statement.

“We cannot allow a situation wherein people who are disgruntled for whatever reason vent their unhappiness by disrupting business operations.

 “We want to send a strong message that we will take stern action against anyone who does that. It is because of this reason that we will visit the area the local leadership tomorrow to assess the situation and to meet with all the stakeholders‚” he said.

This is the latest in a series of protests that have rocked the province. The worst was in Durban on Monday‚ with roads being blocked by burning tyres and other debris by protests complaining about the ANC’s candidates for the local government elections in August.

- TMG digital/Durban Bureau