THE government's failure to implement a plan to minimise the employment of foreigners as truck drivers could be the reason behind the burning of trucks.
The All Truck Drivers Forum and Allied South Africa said the continued employment of foreigners in the industry could be the reason behind the attacks on trucks.
The forum’s secretary, Sifiso Nyathi, said although the reasons behind the attacks were unclear, they could be related to their concerns about trucking companies employing foreigners.
This came in the wake of recent attacks on trucks, with more than 20 trucks having been torched in Kwazulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, and Limpopo.
Tension between foreign and SA truck drivers has been escalating since 2019.
This, after locals accused foreign drivers of stealing their jobs.
This led to scores of foreign truck drivers being attacked and their trucks being set alight on the N3 and N2 highways.
In July 2020, thousands of local truck drivers embarked on a national protest, claiming their employers preferred to employ foreigners as they could exploit them with lower wages.
This saw President Cyril Ramaphosa appoint a team of ministers to look into the burning of trucks in the industry.
The team included Aaron Motsoaledi (Home Affairs) Thulas Nxesi (Employment and Labour), and Fikile Mbulula (the former transport minister).
In June last year, the government and various organisations signed a task team implementation plan that would have ensured minimal employment of foreigners as truck drivers by introducing strict laws around visa and drivers’ licence requirements, among other things.
However, Nyathi said nothing had been implemented. He said the situation remained unchanged, with many companies preferring to employ foreigners.
“Although we don’t know what are the reasons behind this, what we know is that we have been raising our concerns for a long time now, close to six years. As South African drivers we have been sidelined by companies. Many of these companies prefer to hire foreigners while we are unemployed,” said Nyathi.
He said these companies preferred foreign nationals because they want to exploit their workers. He said they also not complying with the laws.
“These companies also operate in their own ways. They are not following the regulations of the industry.
“Many of these companies don’t pay the benefits such as medical aid, pension fund, and UIF and they also dodge tax. For them, it is about profit and they know these foreign nationals can’t fight for their rights,” Nyathi said.
Asked what the department was doing to resolve the situation, Labour and Employment media liaison officer Sabelo Mali said the questions were referred to the departmental spokesperson, Teboho Thejane, who did not respond.
Road Freight Association CEO Gaven Kelly said If this was the same grouping that had been behind such attacks across the country over the past six years, then action needed to be taken against those who promoted, planned, and implemented such criminal actions.
“We have heard the Minister of Police refer to economic sabotage and many other descriptions, but it would seem that this behaviour continues unabated,” said Kelly.
The Truckers Association of South Africa said the financial loss in instances like this could be anywhere between R3 million and R10 million a truck. The association president Mary Phadi added that the losses associated with the number of trucks destroyed to date amounted to anything between R60 million and R80m.
“If main truck lines are to continually be targeted, cargo owners will choose to move cargo through neighbouring countries,” said Phadi.
She also added that the attacks would have effects on economic supply, business confidence, security, law and order, and corridor movement.
“Our association is concerned that these incidents will destroy jobs that the country can ill afford and will result in job losses as business activity shrinks and trade moves away from the country,” Phadi said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa and Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga likened the attacks to economic sabotage.
Briefing the media on Wednesday, Police Minister Bheki Cele said police had so far identified 12 people possibly linked to the burning of trucks since last weekend. Cele said these were coordinated attacks organised by the group.
He said police increased security on major roadways in response to the attacks. Cele added that the South African National Defence Force would be deployed in areas where more attacks were possible.
Agri SA warned that the attacks were a direct assault on the economy and posed a significant risk to food security. "Farmers are already dealing with a general logistics crisis caused by a failing rail network, decaying rural roads and congested ports. Violence on our country's highways adds another level of insecurity and seriously hampering growth in our economy," it said.