Truck companies warned things will get worse if they don’t stop hiring foreigners

July 13, 2023 118

The All Truck Drivers Foundation blames the employers for the spate of truck attacks that’s recently rocked the country.

The organisation says while it doesn’t support the recent torching of trucks, government should also shoulder a portion of the blame as it’s been turning a blind eye to their concerns over the hiring of foreign nationals within the sector.

At least four other trucks were torched overnight, leaving one person wounded.

This has taken the total number of trucks torched in Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, and Limpopo since the weekend to 20.

The Secretary General of the All Truck Drivers Foundation, Sifiso Nyathi, says government needs to start sanctioning companies that continue to hire undocumented migrants.

He warns that things will get worse if government continues to turn a blind eye to drivers’ concerns.

Governance expert, Professor Sam Koma, has also weighed in on the matter.

He says he suspects that the people behind these attacks are the same culprits who attacked foreign truck drivers in 2021 and 2022.

Professor Koma warns that the attacks will have a domino effect on the pockets of South Africans as they will have to bare the brunt of prices increases of basic items.

He says government will have to ensure that a task team is established to thoroughly investigate this issue.

Police Minister, Bheki Cele, has meanwhile refuted assertions that there these attacks are related to the July 2021 unrest, which were sparked by former President Jacob Zuma’s incarceration.

Cele made the remarks, flanked by high-ranking police officials, in a media briefing on the SAPS response to the attack’s trucks in various provinces.

The Minister says while this week marks two years since the unrest that claimed more than 350 lives, 67 people have been arrested so far on 11 cases related to the insurrection.

He says police are investigating 107 cases in KwaZulu-Natal alone, which are related to the torching of trucks since 2018.

Cele says the evidence relating to the recent torching of trucks suggests that opportunists are at work.

The Minister says they are working closely with the SANDF to curb the further attacks on trucks and to monitor hotspots.

Cele says 12 persons of interest have so far been identified, and while it remains unclear what their sole purpose of the attacks are, intelligence suggests that they are not just random acts of criminality but may be business-related.

Written by: Nokwazi Qumbisa

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