Truck drivers are increasingly being targeted in small towns across the Western Cape for non-existent offences either to make money or to get them out of the municipal district. According to Doreen van Rooyen of the South African Long-Distance Truckers Association (Salta), drivers are often scapegoats for authorities in small towns. They had very little power other than to do what they were told or face the wrath of the law, she said. It is an issue that has been brought to the attention of the Road Freight Association (RFA) - especially in the north of the country where local authorities demand payment to escort heavy vehicles through towns as they see freight vehicles as a way to make money for municipal coffers. Speaking in Cape Town recently, Van Rooyen said the problem had raised its head in the Western Cape. “We are increasingly seeing small towns not wanting trucks to travel through their main roads,” she said. Drivers are either told to pay for an escort or not use the roads through the town. “The fact is the main road of a small town is often the only road available on the route, but even if there is a bypass, main roads of towns need to be accessible to drivers wanting to stop and take a break or buy something to eat. They may need to go to the local pharmacy or buy supplies.” She said Beaufort West in particular was becoming a major problem. “Trucks are stopped and forced to go to the weighbridge where they have to wait to be weighed. This is even the case for vehicles without loads. It makes absolutely no sense.” “Is it really necessary to weigh a flatbed that is visibly empty? To force it off the road and into a weighing queue?” She said this type of action was seen as an attempt to simply make drivers’ lives more difficult. As is the case in Mpumalanga and Limpopo where trucks have to pay escort fees or are fined for not having fire extinguishers - even though this is not a legal requirement – she said the number of incidents where trucks were stopped and drivers fined for no apparent reason was increasing in the Cape.
INSERT: The number of incidents where trucks are stopped and drivers fined for no apparent reason is increasing in the Cape. – Doreen van Rooyen
