Roads were barricaded, tyres were burnt and people toyi-toyied but, no one was prevented from going to work or forced to join the protest.

People could be seen going to work and some school children went to school, while others joined the protest still in their school uniform.

The R104 road between Rustenburg and Kroondal was blocked with burning tyres, rocks and steel barriers at the Hex River bridge completely cutting-off traffic between Kroondal and Rustenburg. 

Minibus taxis parked a distance from Ikemeleng to transport people to their different destinations.

As the media arrived, they parked their cars at the Samancor mine and walked about 4km to Ikemeleng, walking through a sunflower crop field to meet their guide Eric.

He called to check on how far they were. 

"I am wearing a black hat, do you see me. I am right behind those people going to work. I am right here at the bridge," he said.

We did not see him although we could see the bridge and tree branches, rocks and burning tyres. In a distance a group of people could be heard chanting behind the black smoke from burning tyres.

A private security vehicle negotiated its way through the rumble, an armed security guard ran next to it removing objects from the road to allow the vehicle to pass, replacing the objects after the car passed.

When the security vehicle passed us, two men came running towards us, we kept looking over our shoulders. Kroondal like Marikana is a dangerous place to access during protests.

"Hello I am Eric," one of the men said when they caught up to us.

He took us to a large group of people at the entrance, as we approached, a group of men carrying sticks, golf clubs and sjamboks came towards us.

Eric held his hand up in the air, the group stopped and he asked them what was wrong.

"We are here to protect you. Did you see those security guards, we chased them away. We were checking whether they did not take you," one man said.

As we approached the main group, police vans arrived and the crowd greeted them with clenched fists punching the air.

We were told of lack of access to basic services such as water which set off the protest and the death of a community leader Thembile Jali. He was killed on October 8, after he went to meet someone at the main road. 

Jali's death led to locals to suspect that hit men were targeting vocal leaders. The group speaking to us did not want to be identified, fearing for their safety.

"It is five weeks now without water, we are struggling," one woman said.

The group said the ward councillor must step down, citing that she disowned them.

"She refused to attend a meeting with us saying she is not our councillor. She must be removed," they said.

Their issues ranged from service delivery to employment opportunists.

While the police were removing rocks from the road in an attempt to reopen it, stones were hurled at them and the police fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowd who had been peaceful before the incident.

They have vowed to continue with the protest until the councillor resigned.

North West police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Amanda Funani said no one was arrested during the protest.

African News Agency (ANA)