Water tankers, municipal offices and a fresh market on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast were set alight and vandalised on Monday morning. 

Ugu municipality spokesperson France Zama confirmed the acts of vandalism of infrastructure. 

“Please be advised that our water tankers, offices, vehicles and fresh produce market that service our communities at our fleet workshop in Mkholombe have been set alight. The market was also looted of all goods in stock and the full extent of damage is yet to be determined.”

Zama said the torching has “set back our frontier for the delivery of water and sanitation services to our communities. And this will have an adverse affect on the delivery of water to communities. We are still assessing the extent of damage and cost associated with this.”

On Sunday, the municipality was already experiencing disruptions due to violent protests. 

“In view of the ongoing volatility in some parts of the district which has manifested into violent protests, residents are advised of a potential disruption to water and sanitation services. 

“Portable water tanker services have already been restricted from delivering water to prevalent escalating acts of torching trucks.”

TimesLIVE