Two more trucks torched in KZN
Two more long haul trucks were torched in KwaZulu-Natal on Monday night, according to police and the Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI).
RTI spokesperson Zinhle Mngomezulu told the Mail & Guardian on Tuesday morning that the attacks took place near Canefields, in the Empangeni area.
Mngomezulu said that an unknown number of armed criminals told the drivers to exit their vehicles, and then torched the trucks.
The drivers were unharmed, she said, but reported “running for their lives”.
The trucks had been waiting in a queue along the freeway waiting to turn into Richards Bay when the attacks took place, according to police.
KZN senior police spokesperson, Jay Naicker, said on Tuesday morning that SAPS members had been permanently deployed along the affected routes to repel attacks. He would not confirm if the attacks were related to those over the weekend.
Monday’s attacks follow a spate of the same that took place over the weekend and coincided with it being two years since the July 2021 civil unrest. During those riots, trucks were strategically placed along highways and secondary routes to block access to KwaZulu-Natal and Durban.
This weekend’s attacks resulted in the torching of 11 trucks on the N3 and N4 highways, something the Road Freight Association described as coordinated attacks on the logistics sector.
The N3 toll road at Van Reenen’s Pass in KwaZulu-Natal was closed for several hours on Sunday and reopened at about 12.30pm after the torching of six trucks. Just hours later, a further five trucks were torched on the N4 near Waterval Boven in Mpumalanga.
Regarding the N4 Mpumalanga attacks, provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala said on Monday the motive was unknown.
“We don’t know the motive. It is alleged that two vehicles came in and stopped those particular trucks, instructed the drivers to get out of the trucks and then they set the trucks alight,” Mohlala said.
The road freight sector transports 80% of goods moved in and around South Africa, as well as cargo moving to and from countries that trade with international markets and use the country’s ports for their imports and exports.
The latest incidents come after two trucks were torched on the N2 South of Durban allegedly during service delivery protests last weekend.
Attacks on trucks are not uncommon in KwaZulu-Natal, and have been recorded over at least the past five years. The attacks are linked to disgruntled local drivers who contend their services are snubbed in favour of cheap foreign labour.
While a task team was established to deal with the attacks and the resentment of local drivers, it has not made any meaningful progress.
President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2020 described truck attacks and accompanying killings that took place at that time as “mindless and bloody lawlessness”.