WATCH: Protesters calling for mayor's head shut down parts of Ladysmith

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Durban - Parts of the Ladysmith city centre have been brought to a standstill on Monday by protesters who are calling on the Alfred Duma Local Municipality mayor Vincent Madlala to step down. Messages were doing the rounds on social media at the weekend regarding a total shutdown of the Ladysmith town and for school children to stay away from classes. Some schools had to cancel sporting events due to the poor attendance of pupils. On Monday morning some pupils were not able to get to school due to the lack of transport and thousands of other commuters were left stranded. Taxi operators were also part of the march, and were not operating.

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Parts of the Ladysmith city centre have been brought to a standstill on Monday by protesters who are calling on the Alfred Duma Local Municipality mayor Vincent Madlala to step down. Video: Supplied





Some of the shops remain closed and police were deployed in town and at the taxi ranks to monitor the situation.

Hundreds of taxis snaked their way into the city causing extensive gridlocks along the way.

Dr Andile Hlatshwayo, the National chairperson of Ubumbano Lokuthula Organisation said they will be handing over a memorandum to the speaker of the municipality which will be voicing their dissatisfaction towards the mayor of Ladysmith.

“We are calling for the immediate removal of the mayor because of corruption and many other activities which are totally against a government representative,”said Hlatshwayo.

Last month more than 2 000 protesters marched to the town hall calling for the mayor to step down.

The protesters who were unhappy with the current state of the local municipality, and demanded that Madlala should step down.

A memorandum includes corruption and misuse of taxpayers’ money by the mayor himself.

Sya Maphalala, Alfred Duma Municipality spokesperson said they were awaiting the handing over of the memorandum at 12pm.

He said from their observations, everything was running normal.

Daily News