South African truck drivers are threatening to shut down the country if the government does not enforce a law that prohibits foreign truck drivers from working in South Africa. #WeStandWithSATruckDrivers has begun to trend on Twitter with many prominent South Africans supporting the movement.
Truck petrol bombed last night by protesters on the N3 North near Vosloorus.
A reader has just sent us this footage, which he says was shot on the N3. Apparently the truck was set on fire as part of the mass action by truck drivers. pic.twitter.com/6kIDS3iqjE
— FOCUS on Transport (@FOCUSmagSA) July 7, 2020
In the video below, foreign truck drivers are being targeted.
Striking Truck Drivers in Johannesburg
This driver ran away when confronted by people wanting to intimidate him.
https://twitter.com/lebokarel/status/1280446761505558528?s=20
Ncebo Ndlovu, of the South Africa Truck Drivers Association spoke to SABC News and said, “All South African truck drivers have agreed not to go to work unless foreign truck drivers have been removed. We want zero percent foreign nationals in South Africa. Driving is not a special skill so we don’t want to have any foreign drivers.
Companies are breaching the collective bargaining agreement as they are employing foreigners. Foreign truck drivers are satisfied with anything in South Africa that is why they are employed. The R350 grant relief is an insult to any citizen. So we are claiming South Africa to retain our jobs. In Namibia, Zimbabwe or here in South Africa truck driving jobs are reserved for locals. You cannot drive a Zimbabwean truck with a Zimbabwean plate or a Namibian plate when you are a foreigner. So we want that to happen here in South Africa.
We don’t want to drive our trucks with foreign nationals. They can drive in their country and they can deliver here in South Africa. Most of the drivers in South Africa who are truck drivers are renewing their licenses every two years yet they are not working. Foreign truck drivers are accused of having fake licenses.
We want to be peaceful South African truck drivers. We are not fighting even in the past years. Those destroying property are not part of our organisation. They are hooligans taking advantage of the situation. We are calling for a national shutdown from the 7th of July until the government tells us a date when they will not allow foreign nationals to drive South African trucks. There are no South
Africans driving foreign trucks. If you go to Botswana, they will tell you you cannot drive a truck. You have to be a citizen.”
The PutSouthAfricansFirst movement is supporting the initiative with the hashtag
#WeStandWithSATruckDrivers trending on Twitter.
Hot spot areas reported so far
