, commission chair Angie Makwetla said that in 2018, more than 200 non-nationals working in the road freight industry were killed. She said some died after petrol bombs were thrown at their trucks. Others were shot, stoned or stabbed by groups of people claiming to be South African truck drivers.
The ATDF’s Masimini acknowledged that drivers were angry. “When you see trucks being damaged, we don’t know who is damaging them. What we know is that it is angry drivers,” said Masimini.all SA citizen truck drivers to join and unite to save our jobs from being taken away from us to the foreign nationals”.Masimini denied that its members were xenophobic.
According to the ATDF, Nxesi said the government would amend the labour laws to introduce a new quota of 60% local drivers to 40% foreign nationals. This was rejected by the ATDF.Nxesi’s spokesperson, Sabelo Mali, said the minister had directed all parties within the industry to deal with grievances through the bargaining council.Someone claiming to be a truck driver posted a WhatsApp message warning foreign truck drivers.
One was in the form of a poster, calling on South Africans to stand up and fight against “the abnormal influx of illegal foreigners in our country”. The message also called for the closure of all foreign businesses in the townships and mass deportations of foreign nationals. Police spokesperson Lirandzu Themba said authorities were closing in on those suspected of violence in the road freight industry.There are special investigative detective teams probing these cases in the affected KZN, WC, Gauteng and MP provinces,” said Themba.
“Over the past few years, what was fringe scapegoating has now moved to the centre of politics,” he said.