Cape Town – Road Freight Association (RFA) CEO, Gavin Kelly has written a letter pleading with President Cyril Ramaphosa “to act now” to end the truck drivers’ protest which he has described as “a sabotage of the country and its economy”.
Truck drivers on Thursday reportedly brought traffic to a standstill on the national route that links Johannesburg and Durban, in protest over the alleged “employment of foreign nationals”.
They reportedly blocked the road on the N3 between Warden and Villiers.
In the letter published by The Citizen, Kelly urged Ramaphosa to deploy ministers to restore order and listen to proposals made by complaint and non-complaint transporters’ representatives and resolve the issues.
Summing up the economic impact and losses sustained as a result of the protest, Kelly said more than R300 million had been lost already with more than 350 trucks stuck on the roads over the past 24 hours.
#VanReenensPass #TruckDriverProtest ROAD CLOSED – best option is to delay travel or go via Newcastle / Ladysmith #N3Route pic.twitter.com/u8cE1hrrgW
— TrafficSA (@TrafficSA) June 16, 2022
IOL reported that the knock-on effects will be felt in other industry sectors such as manufacturing to retail, resulting in penalties of late delivery, damaged good and loss of businesses which will ultimately create more unemployment.
“Our ports will become ghost towns… And the surrounding businesses relating to activities of trade and support will close. It will just result in more unemployment,” the report quoted Kelly as saying.
National co-ordinator of the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit Association, Edward Muchatuta asked the government to stop All Truck Drivers Forum and Allied South Africa (ADTF ASA) from what they are doing, reported New24.
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“The government is doing nothing to avert that situation because it is migrants who are being attacked. If it were migrants attacking locals, this would have been attended to,” the report quoted Muchatuta.
However, ATDF ASA’s Sifiso Nyathi said employers did not want to change their behaviour and accused employers who did not employ South African drivers of creating poverty in the country.
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Picture: Twitter/ @TrafficSA
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Compiled by Olwethu Mpeshe
