Protests and rockfalls combine to leave Hout Bay cut off
Image: Esa Alexander
Thousands of residents of Hout Bay on the Cape peninsula were stranded on Saturday morning due to service delivery protests which closed all available roads into the suburb.
Police spokesman Andre Traut confirmed SAPS were monitoring the area‚ and a city official said public transport services had been suspended.
Both access roads‚ via Constantia Nek to the north-east and via Victoria Drive towards Camps Bay‚ were closed. The only other route out of Hout Bay‚ via Chapman's Peak Drive‚ has been closed for the past three weeks for safety reasons after rockfalls.
Residents took to social media to vent their frustrations‚ and one commentator said it appeared the protests were prompted by a lack of electricity in an emergency relief village set up to house victims of a recent devastating fire in Imizamo Yethu.
No further information was immediately available. Frustrated motorists trying to get into the area along Constantia Nek were stuck in a long traffic jam.