Cape Town – The safety of long-distance truck drivers has come under the spotlight following a spate of attacks along major freeway routes in recent
weeks.
This comes after two motorists and a truck driver were pelted with petrol bombs at the weekend.
Police spokesperson Andrè Traut said two cases of malicious damage to property are under investigation after two motor vehicles were stoned by protesters on the N2 in Lwandle on Sunday.
City spokesperson Wayne Dyason said a protesting crowd had barricaded roads at Broadlands Road.
“Two drivers have been injured by stones thrown at their vehicles. They have been taken to hospital.”
Meanwhile on Saturday, in another attack, a petrol bomb was thrown at a truck, also on the N2 in Lwandle.
“A passenger in the truck, a 32-year-old sustained facial injuries and was admitted to hospital.
“Our investigation into the attempted murder and malicious damage to property led to the arrest of a 34-year-old suspect who made a court appearance in Strand (yesterday).
“He will remain in custody until his next court appearance on August 19,” said Traut.
Police said more cases of malicious damage to property relating to the protest in Lwandle were under investigation, “however the statistics cannot be provided due to a national moratorium,” said Traut.
Transport and Public Works MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela said: “Recently, a truck was petrol-bombed in Touws River, a truck driver died when a truck was stoned in De Doorns and
several other trucks have been attacked on the N2 highway last week in Cape Town.
“Beaufort West remains the hot-spot area where trucks are attacked in the Western Cape.
“Criminality has been identified as the main cause of attacks on the drivers.”
Madikizela recently met with the South African Long-Distance Truckers (Salt) and discussed truck drivers’ safety on the provincial roads.
The association represents over 210 000 members.
Madikizela said Salt and provincial traffic officers were interacting with the association to find ways of dealing with the problem.
“I strongly condemn this act of violence. Our law enforcement agencies must ensure strong action is taken against these perpetrators.
“Those responsible for these actions must be brought to book and prosecuted,” added Madikizela.
Mayco member for Safety and Security JP Smith said: “We’ve responded to these every time, including the ones (on Sunday).
“I’ve requested senior staff to factor these into our operational deployment to try and protect commuters along these hot-spot sections of R300, N2 and Baden Powell.
“I’ve also requested (Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz) as provincial MEC with oversight into SAPS to convene an urgent meeting between SAPS, provincial traffic and CoCT to see what has been done to investigate these attacks, what arrests have been made, what resources the primary agencies have deployed, and how they are
planning to respond to the crisis and what role the City needs to play.”