The police have failed the community of Kwa-Majola in Port St Johns, where 50 homesteads and 97 houses were burned by rival villagers in January.

Dozens of villagers sought shelter in a nearby forest and watched from a distance as almost 100 houses and all their life savings burned to the ground.

It was the latest blow in a faction fight that has been ongoing for many years.

On Sunday, it was a case of better late than never as Police Minister Bheki Cele and National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola met the rival villagers at Kwa-Majola for a conflict resolution imbizo.

Police Ministry spokesperson Lirandzu Themba said special police units and possibly members of the SANDF have been deployed in the area to restore peace.

"The conflict has over the years escalated to acts of violence and crime; incidents of arson and murder have resulted in the burning down of over 140 homesteads and houses.

"Twenty-two people have been killed there, in the past three years.

"Criminal acts have also displaced scores of families, leaving women and children destitute and many resorting to leaving their homes and seeking refuge in nearby bushes."

Minister Cele said the SAPS Tactical Response Teams and National Intervention Unit will be deployed in the area within seven days.

"Majola village cannot be a 'ghost town' where villagers are terrorised by thugs and fear for their lives to such an extent that they opt to live in bushes [rather] than in their own homes," said Cele.

In January, the war that has been going on for many years started again, leaving an elderly man from Tyeni village shot dead.

At the time, villagers told Scrolla.Africa that the last sporadic act of violence in that same area had been on 19 September 2022.