Transporters have been advised to proceed with extreme caution over the next few days as tension mounts over the presence of foreign nationals living and working in South Africa, with at least one organisation suspected of xenophobic vigilantism threatening to disrupt road freight.
A crime intelligence officer working for the Federation of East and Southern African Road Transport Associations (Fesarta), said the All Truck Drivers’ Foundation (ATDF), long accused of fomenting violence aimed at road hauliers, would meet tonight about going ahead with tomorrow’s planned action against transporters suspected of illegally employing non-South African drivers.
The officer, whose name is being withheld for security reasons, said: “The alleged ATDF action is planned to be initiated after the meeting to be held at 6pm today”.
The office added that according to a poster being distributed, meetings were to be held in all provinces.
Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and the Western Cape, however, appear to be the nerve centres for the ATDF’s intended action.
From the information the officer has, the foundation’s drivers will stop trucks to block roads, then phone their employers to inform them that the ATDF has forced them to stop, taken their keys and thrown them away.
“Potential areas to be targeted include the following: truck stops on all major routes, Eastern Cape (Motherwell Area, Coega); all routes into Gauteng (N1 north and south, N4 east and west, N3); in KwaZulu-Natal the areas of concern would be the N3 (Van Reenen’s Pass, Mooi River, Estcourt Harrismith), and the N2 (towards Richards Bay and Port Shepstone), and Verulam; Mpumalanga (N11 and R33 between Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal in the direction of Ermelo); Western Cape (N7 in vicinity of Moorreesburg, N2, Lwandle, N7 near Eendekuil, Philadelphia, Du Toitskloof Pass on the Paarl side corner off Stellenbosch Arterial and R300, N1 highway near the weighbridge before Rawsonville, and the Du Toitskloof Pass adjacent to the Huguenot Tunnel – Worcester side.
Fesarta chief executive Mike Fitzmaurice has stated that all their information has been shared with the relevant law enforcement authorities.
His peer at the Road Freight Agency (RFA), Gavin Kelly, has since said that key instigators from the ATDF have been informed that “we will interdict them in their personal capacity and we hold them responsible”.
He added that the unions and the RFA had agreed they were not going to take this again. “We will take the necessary legal action if needs be.”
Information passed on by the National Bargaining Council for the Road Freight and Logistics Industry (NBCRFLI) indicates that on Friday an urgent court application was served on the ATDF and the SA National Cargo Transport Association (Sancatra).
The Council said the court application had been enrolled to be heard on Monday, 6 July, in the High Court, Pretoria.
Meanwhile, despite tonight’s meeting and the faint hope it has created that the ATDF may call off tomorrow’s action, national secretary Sifiso Nyathi said the shutdown was definitely going ahead.
“I myself will not be working tomorrow. We need to shut the transport industry down out of sympathy for our people who can’t find work because of people from other countries working in our country.”
Last night’s incidents of civil unrest on the N7 in the area of Du Noon, directly north of Cape Town, in which two trucks were petrol bombed, have also added to jitters reverberating through the transport industry, although the attacks were linked to service delivery protests.
A logistics manager at Eskom has also stated that given the threats facing truck drivers over the next days, the power utility has taken a decision to suspend operations on 6 July from 6pm till 8 July in order to protect both Eskom and its contractors, employees, property and assets.
In yet more information sent to Freight News about tomorrow’s planned disruptions to road haulage in South Africa, a group called Mzansi Patriotic Forces calls upon “all South African citizens to stand and fight against the abnormal influx of illegal foreigners in our country.
“We are calling for the closure of all their businesses in our townships. Our public hospitals and schools are overwhelmed, our schools are over-populated. We call for mass deportation.
“All foreigners with citizenship or not must leave our townships and country by the end of 7 July.”
- For up-to-date information about what’s going on with regard to the safety situation of South African roads, transporters are advised to phone the RFA at 011 974 4399, or email Fesarta at: mike@fesarta.co.za