On her way home after a long day, driving along the R102 through Ntshawini to Stanger, it started raining stones.
Ntshawini residents protesting a power failure were on the side of the road pelted Raveena Rambally’s car with stones and pieces of brick last Wednesday evening, March 25.
“It just came from everywhere, there were groups of people on both sides of the road throwing stones at me,” said Rambally who was alone in the car.
All she could do was speed past the chaos and go to KwaDukuza SAPS to open a case.
With her arrival at the police station, at least three other vehicles that were also damaged had pulled into the station to report the matter.
“The damage is bad and I will not be able to fix it,” she said.
Her little car’s right headlight was smashed and Rambally was still driving around with a large stone stuck inside the broken light.
“Who is going to pay for this?” she asked.
The car also has a big dent in the side of the right door and the paint on her roof is chipped.
“There was no warning, we had no idea what we were driving into,” said Rambally.
Soobramoney Pillay was on his way from work to his family in Stanger when he saw rocks in the road.
“I started to slow down to avoid hitting the rocks when a few guys came rushing up to me, pulling on the doors, trying to open them,” said Pillay.
He said he started to speed off to get away when it started “hailing rocks”.
“It was like hail, but rocks, coming from everywhere,” said Pillay.
His car has R70 000 damage, with broken windows and massive dents.
“It was not a good experience, it was almost like being hijacked,” he said.
“I was fortunate to be able to get away,” said Pillay.
He said the police need to do something about communities who do whatever they want.
“What if my family was traveling with me and the rock that went through the back window hit one of my children? It could have been so much worse,” said Pillay.
Jonny Moodley, assistant director at KwaDukuza’s traffic department referred questions to municipal spokesperson Sifiso Zulu, who said traffic officers closed the road in Melville, but as the protest spread some cars were caught in the crossfire.
“It is regrettable that residents still take out their frustrations on innocent motorists during such occasions. This happens even if sufficient information has been communicated to the affected residents,” said Zulu.
