Delays expected as N3 reopens after seven trucks torched near Mooi River

The N3 near Hidcote, KwaZulu-Natal has been reopened after intense protest action that took place earlier on Thursday morning.

10h50 #AlertUpdate: Protest action has stopped at N3-4 57.8 near Hidcote I/C 152. The road is now opened. Expect delays as there are extensive backlogs. Clean up off the road. Please approach area with caution.

— N3 Toll Concession (@N3Route) March 28, 2019

Motorists are advised to expect extensive backlogs.

Seven trucks were set alight.

The road was closed, but one carriageway, heading towards Durban, reopened on Thursday morning at around 9am.

Hi Ashy. N/B (JHB bound) is closed and traffic is diverted at Mooi River North and back to the N3 at Hidcote. S/B (DBN bound) is opened and traffic is free flowing.

— N3 Toll Concession (@N3Route) March 28, 2019

https://twitter.com/OpenNewsSA/status/1111167873505001476

05h33 #AlertUpdate: Protest action taking place at N3-4 57.8 near Hidcote I/C 152. Total road closure. S/B traffic diverted at Hidcote and back at Treverton. N/B traffic diverted at Mooi River and back at Treverton.

— N3 Toll Concession (@N3Route) March 28, 2019

The N3 Toll Concession has said that truck drivers were protesting.

https://twitter.com/OpenNewsSA/status/1111166985319133185

Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI) spokesperson Zinhle Mngomezulu said traffic was backed up in both directions, and clean-up operations were under way.

“Trucks were torched on the Johannesburg-bound carriageway, two on the Durban bound. Traffic is being diverted to the R103,” Mngomezulu told African News Agency (ANA).

N3 near Hidcote. Seven trucks set on fire. pic.twitter.com/igRtnjHHv6

— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) March 28, 2019

A KwaZulu-Natal provincial police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Thulani Zwane, said the protest action started just after midnight.

“Seven trucks were set alight. The truck drivers were ordered to get out of their vehicles by a group of people who then set alight the trucks and left,” said Zwane.

https://twitter.com/SALTruckers/status/1111160507816468480

He said no arrests had been made, and a case of public violence had been opened at the Mooi River Police Station. Police were still at the scene, said Zwane.

The Mooi River N3 toll plaza is one of the busiest in the country, linking KwaZulu-Natal’s two major seaports with most of the hinterland, such as the country’s economic hub of Gauteng and SADC countries.

The torching of trucks and stoning of vehicles occurs frequently in the area, with similar protests taking place on Sunday.

In May last year, 32 trucks were torched and others looted in one night.

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