The community of KwaMsane in northern KwaZulu-Natal torched a truck on Friday morning as their fight for water intensifies.
TimesLIVE understands the community began protesting earlier this week due to the non-delivery of water as taps ran dry in the Somkhele area.
A police officer in the region said they had attended to complaints about protest action along the R618 on Thursday.
"There were people blockading parts of the road and throwing stones at vehicles. We are monitoring what's going on," the officer said.
Somkhele is home to an open cast coal mine - the largest metallurgical anthracite mine in South Africa - which started operating in 2007 in the uMkhanyakude district municipality.
It has been a topic of controversy over the years as reports of water shortages made headlines.
Somkhele mine is understood to use underground water to wash the coal, further exacerbating the plight of the local community.
The district municipality and police have been approached for comment.
This is a developing story.
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