The Trans Kalahari Corridor Secretariat (TKCS) wants to make the “Thank a Trucker” project run over the Christmas period annual event, according to TKCS executive director Leslie Mpofu. It was a joint project supported initially by Namibia’s National Road Safety Council (NRSC), the Walvis Bay Corridor Group (WBCG), the Namibian National Department of Transport and TKCS.The campaign was then extended to cover the other TKC member states, Botswana and South Africa.“We thought we should thank the truck drivers for the marvellous job they did during the worst of the Covid pandemic.“While most of us were safe in our homes they were crossing borders and driving into places that were considered to be epicentres of the disease.“If it were not for them our economies would have crumbled. They made sure that cargo kept moving,” Mpofu told Freight News.Close to 1 000 hampers were handed out to truckers along the corridor.Feedback from the drivers was that no one had ever before stopped to thank them for the work they were doing. “That is sad. We have proposed to the member states that we declare a trucker’s day once a year. It will include the transport companies and truck owners, who are also doing a great job of keeping the freight moving,” he said. The TKC Secretariat is a tripartite transboundary corridor management institution based in Windhoek. It was established with a political and economic vision to pursue or contribute towards deeper regional integration programmes of SADC, Sacu and AUDA – Nepad. TKCS manages the Trans-Kalahari Corridor which stretches 1 900 kilometres from Walvis Bay to Gauteng via Botswana.
