The Road Freight Association (RFA) has vowed to continue its battle against smaller municipalities in South Africa who are extorting revenue from trucking companies for illegal escorts. RFA CEO Gavin Kelly said that while massive inroads had been made in several towns, it was concerning that truckers were unscrupulously targeted to increase municipal coffers. Speaking at the annual RFA conference held in Swaziland last week, Kelly said illegal municipal escorts of abnormal loads posed the biggest risk, and three MECs from various provinces had been put on terms. “We have had a running battle in Mpumalanga for at least three years over the number of illegal municipal escorts.” Kelly said matters had come to a head when operators had been charged to pay for an illegal municipal escort of abnormal cargo through certain towns. Two legal opinions were sought – and there was consensus that the escorting of vehicles through several of the towns in the province was in fact illegal. According to Kelly there were several towns across South Africa still resorting to this practice. While in Mpumalanga the activity was now on the decline because the transport MEC conceded that it was illegal, it was still on the increase in other provinces. “We have put the MECs of transport of Limpopo, North West and Free State on terms. That means we have given a final date for them to address this behaviour and bring it to an end or we will be taking legal action,” said Kelly. “These escorts are a major concern. It may not sound very important or problematic, but once a company has quoted to move a machine from point A to B and the quote is accepted, it cannot be changed. So if, for example, the quote is for R10 000 and you arrive with the load at a small town like Bethal or Bethlehem and suddenly, before any movement through the town can take place, the operator has to pay the local authority R10 000, the business is absolutely gone.” Kelly said activities of this nature had been on the increase over the past five years across South Africa. “Towns that are cashstrapped see transport, literally, as the way to make money.” But, said Kelly, it was not just towns that were trying their luck. In Durban abnormal operators recently found themselves having to fork out huge sums of money to move across a 200-metre piece of property. “The abnormal route out of the Port of Durban suddenly belonged to someone else,” said Kelly. This came after several pieces of Transnet-owned land were put out to tender and leased to other entities. “Abnormal loads can no longer move there unless they pay up,” said Kelly, who added that the matter had been taken up with provincial authorities as well as with Transnet itself. “Last week one of our members was charged R50 000 to move a vehicle over roughly 200 metres.” He said as long as authorities viewed transport as a way to make money the industry would be under pressure.
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Towns that are cash-strapped see transport, literally, as the way to make money. – Gavin Kelly
