Charges of intimidation were laid at a Cape Town police station on Wednesday against the ANCYL and others, Western Cape Premier Helen Zille said.

This was prompted by a threat to make Cape Town and the province ungovernable.

"This afternoon, Mayor Patricia de Lille and I formally laid criminal complaints against the ANCYL [and four other organisations]... in relation to offences that have been committed, as outlined in the Intimidation Act of 1982," Zille said in a statement.

"This threat comes against the backdrop of a number violent service delivery protests that have taken place in the city in recent days."

On Friday, the Dullah Omar region of the African National Congress Youth League delivered a memorandum to the office of the premier on behalf of itself, the ANC, the ANC Women's League, the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association and the Congress of Democratic Taxi Associations.

Zille said the memorandum contained a threat on the fifth page, which read: "We demand that the above-mentioned demands be positively responded to within seven working days. Failure to do so [and] the young people and the above-mentioned stakeholders will make this city and province ungovernable! Amandla!"

Zille's spokesman Zak Mbhele said the organisations were protesting about a range of issues which included education, the youth wage subsidy, transport and land.

One of the demands was that Western Cape community safety MEC Dan Plato and education MEC Donald Grant be fired because they were "useless".

Another demand was that land be expropriated so that low cost housing could be built, said Mbhele.

The protesters also demanded that instead of the city expanding its MyCiTi bus service, it should develop a programme to revitalise the taxi industry.

Zille said De Lille had also seen video footage of a protest on Monday on the corner of Landsdowne Road and Duinefontein Road.

"The footage clearly shows how the actions of protesters are being carefully marshalled and controlled by certain identifiable individuals," said Zille.

"The mayor will bring this footage to the attention of the Provincial [SA Police Services] commissioner, General [Arno] Lamoer, when she meets with him on Friday this week."