Durban - The Road Freight Association (RFA) agrees with and supports the 11-point action plan to deal with blockages and recruitment of foreign nationals.
The action plan was in response to last week’s blockages of national routes, including the N3, by truck drivers protesting against the hiring of foreign nationals.
At the weekend, the Road and Freight Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) met in Pretoria with industry players that included, among others, the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu), the industry Bargaining Council, the All Truck Drivers Alliance (ATDF), and the Transport Association of South Africa (TASA). All the parties signed an agreement committing to the plan.
RFA chief executive Gavin Kelly said it was part of the ministerial task team since its inception and first meeting in KwaZulu-Natal.
Kelly said that the compliance of employers in the transport sector, with all regulatory requirements, is non-negotiable. There are both companies and so-called representative organisations within the road freight sector, who refuse to comply with the basic requirements of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) or the Main Agreement within the sector.
“The RFA supports all efforts to stop the disruption of the logistics chain. The root causes have been identified, and the proposed implementation plan clearly identifies who, what, when and how these causes must be addressed (and resolved),” Kelly said.
“Again, the RFA calls on the various authorities – tasked with registration, confirmation of compliance and the monitoring of adherence to the conditions of employment prescribed for the road freight sector – to apply themselves urgently to their tasks. This will resolve the base causes for the protests by the All Truck Drivers Forum and Allied South Africa (ATDF-SA), and the employment of illegal (without work visas) foreigners,” added Kelly.
Kelly said that the idea that a private institution can create a government agency to “regulate” the freight industry is unacceptable.
He also said that the idea to bring back the archaic route and distance “operator licences” that existed before the “deregulation of road freight” in the 1980s, and propose the implementation of a taxi industry-style operator licence, shows both a total lack of understanding of how freight and logistics sector operates, as well as a hidden attempt to capture the industry. The various authorities, that are responsible for registration and regulation of operators in the sector, are mandated and empowered to perform these functions without the need to further burden the citizenry with another expensive, yet ineffective, agency.
Earlier, the Department of Employment and Labour delivered a joint task team statement at a media briefing, held at the National Transport Department, in Pretoria. Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi said the meeting was a joint effort to mitigate the problems afflicting the industry, and find a solution.
Nxesi said the action plan derives from a culmination of a series of meetings held with the industry and will form part of a blueprint to be announced, once approved by all parties.
The Implementation Plan consists of the following actions:
- Facilitate the appointment of the task team;
- Enforcement of the VISA requirements;
- Need for consideration of all foreign driving licences;
- Registration and compliance with labour laws;
- Registration of operators, in term of Section 45 of the National Road Traffic Act (NRTA);
- Review of the Traffic Register Number;
- Review of the Cross-Border Road Transport Legislation;
- Amendment of the National Road Traffic Regulation;
- Integrated joint multi-disciplinary law enforcement operations;
- Implement a Driver Training Programme; and
- Consideration of the introduction of Operating Licences for the industry.
Nxesi issued a caution, that non-compliance cannot be allowed to displace South Africans in the labour market.
“We cannot allow the introduction of slave employment practices. We are going to work very hard going forward,” Nxesi said.
He added: “Both the Department of Employment and Labour and the Department of Home Affairs have reported that, while some operators have asserted that South Africa lacks skilled truck drivers, the inspections and law enforcement operations have found that truck driving was an abundant skill in South Africa and, therefore, not a scarce skill as purported by some operators.
“The Department of Home Affairs reported they had conducted over 21 joint multi-disciplinary law enforcement operations and inspections, to assess the extent of use of foreign and, at times, illegal truck drivers.”
Police Minister Bheki Cele warned employers that they will now be arrested for employing illegal immigrants.
Daily News