National shutdown postponed after SA truckers hand over memorandum

Threats of a national shutdown over foreign truck drivers employed within the sector may have been narrowly avoided, after a memorandum was handed over to the National Bargaining Council for the Road Freight and Logistics Industry (NBCRFLI) late on Monday. 

All Truck Drivers Forum and Allied South Africa (ATDF-ASA) said in a press release the NBCRFLI has been given seven days to respond to ATDF-ASA’s grievances. The forum confirmed the shutdown had been put on hold nationally while it awaits an outcome. 

Some protests took place across the country, with truck drivers blocking some highways.

ALSO READ: ‘No foreign nationals’: Road closures expected as truckers protest

Truck drivers threatened a shutdown after protest action aimed to halt movement on key routes. This was to put the spotlight on government to address “the use of foreign truck drivers by South African trucking companies”. 

“It is a common fact that we have hundreds of local truck drivers who are unemployed just because the foreign nationals have occupied those positions,” said ATDF secretary general Sifiso Nyathi last week. 

Members intended to march to bargaining councils, demanding “the whole freight industry to have zero percent of foreign nationals”.

Other demands included drivers without valid work permits to be removed from trucks, and all trucks registered in South Africa to be driven by South Africans only.

South African truckers are also demanding a 15% salary increase. 

ATDF Cape Town members delivered a memorandum to Cape Town port on Thursday last week.

ALSO READ: Truck drivers threaten to shut down SA’s roads

Zim truckers anxious

Legal representatives for the Zimbabwean Truckers Association are trying to serve papers on the leaders of the Operation Dudula (‘Push away’) movement to stop them intimidating and harassing foreigners – as soon as they are able to locate them.

Advocate Simba Chitando told Moneyweb he had been instructed by the Zimbabwean Truckers Association to take legal action to “challenge the acts of intimidation against foreigners during Operation Dudula.”

Chitando said the association, their families and foreigners from other African countries had been harassed by the xenophobic violence. 

ALSO READ: Zim truckers want to sue Operation Dudula leaders – but can’t find them

The association wants the court to interdict the organisers of Operation Dudula from harassing and intimidating its members and their families.

Zimbabwean truckers working in South Africa say they have suffered years of xenophobic abuse, resulting in 200 of their colleagues being murdered.

They have pointed the finger at the ATDF, among other groups.

According to the Road Freight Association, out of the roughly 63 000 truck drivers in South Africa, only 10% are foreign. 

Compiled by Nica Richards. Additional reporting by Cheryl Kahla, Marizka Coetzer and Moneyweb.