Police and protesters exchanged volleys of teargas and stones in Johannesburg on Tuesday when a suburb erupted into protest over public services ahead of polls on May 8. Dozens of residents in the working class Turffontein suburb blocked the main road through ward 55, burning tyres, mattresses and tree branches over allegedly unfair allocation of new social housing nearby.
Plumes of acrid smoke filled the air as women danced and chanted by the roadside. "Our ward councillor doesn't assist us," said resident Helen Sneyers of the area's Democratic Alliance (DA) representative.
The DA, in opposition nationally, will face off against the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in polls defined by persistent shortcomings in the delivery of basic services like social housing, electricity and healthcare.