Fears allayed over driver permit ‘tit for tat’

The issue of foreign truck drivers and SA work permits is unlikely to get out of hand, according to Barney Curtis, executive officer of the Federation of Southern African Road Transport Associations (Fesarta). This follows the SA department of home affairs’ ruling that effective from June 1, foreign drivers on an SA-registered truck must have an SA work permit, or proof that the application has been submitted and is pending at home affairs. For foreign drivers driving foreign-registered vehicles, they would have to be carrying a valid passport; a letter from the foreign truck owner verifying their employee status; and a letter describing their itinerary in SA. The question from FTW to which Curtis was responding came from Brian Kalshoven, MD of the clearing and forwarding agency, Beitbridge Border Clearing Agency (BBCA). Kalshoven expressed the commonly felt fear of revenge reciprocity. “This could be a doubleedged sword,” he said, “with other Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries imposing the same requirements on SA drivers operating up north.” There is also the concern that the SADC immediately declared the work permit issue an “unfair trade practice”, and Kalshoven and others suggested that this was only a short step from these foreign countries implementing their own legislation, adversely affecting SA drivers’ rights to travel. This could happen, Curtis agreed, but the issue was likely to have been put on the table at the SADC for discussion before any other countries reciprocated. “I always tell foreign truckers that it is better to try to clear the non-tariff barriers to trade before taking such action,” he told FTW. “I feel that the “transport liberalisation process”, currently being discussed, would be the best place to present this work permit issue. Kalshoven also voiced another concern. “Could clarification be sought on what is probably the most frequent occurrence,” he asked. “A foreign driver in a foreign-registered vehicle who picks up a load in RSA to take back to his home country. In effect, he and his vehicle are being employed by an SA company to move the load. Work permit? No work permit? It would be ridiculous to expect the truck to return to the border empty.” Although it’s possible if you interpret the law strictly, according to Curtis, it’s most unlikely to happen in practice. The truck is not SA-registered, and it would be an extreme form of semantics to impose the legislation in such a way, he suggested. “As most of the drivers and vehicles cross the border frequently,” Curtis said, “they get to be known to the customs agents, and their credibility becomes much better.” The imposition of the new regulations has also been delayed until July 1, and this should give enough time to get the matter discussed at SADC level, and amicably dealt with. “The professional drivers permit issue is now on the table, and is being included in the panel of experts briefing,” Curtis told FTW. “When we have the next meeting we will add this work permit issue to the other matters in the discussion,”