Investigation unit Ipid has sent investigators to the scene of a violent service delivery protest in Caledon, Western Cape, where two people were allegedly shot and killed by police on Thursday.

This was confirmed by Western Cape police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Andrè Traut.

"The deaths of two protesters this morning in Caledon have been reported to Ipid for the purpose of an independent investigation into the circumstances," said Traut.

However, Ipid spokesperson Moses Dlamini would only confirm that investigators had been sent to the scene, where the community is said to be protesting the lack of service delivery in the area.

It appears the protest erupted into a violent confrontation between protesters and police, which resulted in the loss of two lives.

"I cannot confirm anything right now. We will not know until a criminal investigation has been conducted. What I can tell you now is that our investigators are on their way to the scene. I will issue a statement once those investigations have been done," Dlamini said.

Local media reported that the municipality was aware of the situation in the Overberg town, but not of what the cause of the protest was.

Municipality spokesperson Hugo Geldenhuys was quoted saying that they had not received a memorandum from the protesters.