The eThekwini Municipality says power has been restored to the Thokoza Womens' Hostel in the Durban CBD.
This was confirmed by the ward councillor for the area and city manager Musa Mbhele. Mbhele also said that striking workers were slowly returning to work.
Residents from the hostel had taken to the streets again on Tuesday to voice their frustrations. They used burning tyres to block roads.
They complained that the municipal workers’ strike meant that electricity disruptions were not dealt with despite calls being made to the city.
University students, led by the EFF, also held demonstrations over the power outages at student residences in the city centre.
EFF KwaZulu-Natal chairperson, Mongezi Twala, who was present at the students’ protest, said that they were “asking the municipality to deal with the strike as it is causing problems in the city. We are not promoting anarchy and violence but we are saying this issue must be fixed”.
Twala said that buildings in the city, including student residences, had been without electricity for almost two weeks.
“With our public representatives, we took the rotten food from the residences’ fridges to the municipality to show them the effect this has, because it seems they are not in touch with reality,” said Twala.
Ward 28 councillor Ntando Khuzwayo said the EFF hijacked the Thokoza Hostel dwellers peaceful march which led to the protest to become violent.
“That led to some residents getting injured and others getting arrested. We have now found legal representatives for the arrested residents so that they can be released. We hope that now that electricity has been restored, things will go back to normal,” he said.
Khuzwayo thanked the electricity department for fixing the issue.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nqobole Gwala said: “Five women from the Thokoza Women's Hostel protest have been arrested and will appear in court soon. Public Order Police are in place to ensure that there is order and we are monitoring the city.”
The Mercury