Nkohla entered the neighbourhood with a police escort as the leader of a city council delegation appointed to meet residents and discuss their many grievances, including the lack of sanitation at hostels that the residents say are "not suitable for pigs".

The community leaders negotiated with Nkohla for several hours.

Locals torched buildings, looted shops, barricaded main roads and shot at law enforcement officers.

They vowed to intensify their campaign if their demands were not met.

Nkohla was once at the frontline of protests over the city's sanitation policies in places such as Khayelitsha. He was one of the leaders of Ses'khona People's Rights Movement, and an ANC city councillor.

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He was among those who emptied buckets of human faeces on the doors of the provincial legislature and at Cape Town International Airport.

"Mr Nkohla has experience in community issues and it was determined that it would be beneficial to have him as part of the city delegation," said city spokesman Priya Reddy.

Shortly before the local government elections, Nkohla defected to the DA, taking about 500 members of Ses'khona People's Rights Movement with him. This month he became the "executive support officer'' in the office of the mayoral committee member for utility services, and earns R701,000 a year.

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Community leader Phumelele Nombewu insisted on meeting mayor Patricia de Lille and wanted the 41 protesters arrested during the day to be released.

"Our demands for the mayor are simple. We want houses for the community," said Nombewu.

"We are willing to [cause] a total shutdown, including of the N2 and Jakes Gerwel Drive, if we don't get attention from the authorities."

De Lille's spokesman, Pierrinne Leukes, said: "The meeting will be attended by representatives of the mayor's office so that they do not have to wait on her availability.

"The mayor will not be threatened with violence."