Truck drivers threaten to shut down SA’s roads

Chaos is brewing across Gauteng as the truck industry is threatening a national shutdown of the roads if truck drivers’ demands are not met.

It was uncertain if the tensions would escalate after Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi on Monday introduced the National Labour Migration Policy and the Employment Services Amendment Bill for public comment.

The Bill will introduce quotas on the number of documented foreign nationals with work visas who can be employed in agriculture, construction, hospitality and tourism, among other sectors. Last weekend, the All Truck Drivers Forum and Allied SA called for a national shutdown over its disapproval of foreign truck drivers.

Its secretary-general, Sifiso Nyathi, said truck drivers linked to the forum had marched last weekend to the National Bargaining Council to submit a memorandum of demands. Nyathi said the issues had been building since 2018. The forum was calling on the government to remove foreign truck drivers from the road freight industry with immediate effect and for a salary increase of 15% for local truck drivers.

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.

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Democratic Alliance shadow deputy minister of finance, Deon George said the economy could not afford such an action. “It will increase the cost of goods for everyone, hurt the poorest and further drive up inflation,” he said. George said it was clearly xenophobic and driven by a narrow parochial interest.

“.We already have supply chain problems. This makes that worse at a time when we can least afford it,” he said.

Economist Piet Croucamp said the forum was not protecting the interests of independent truck drivers but it “seems more like a protection racket”.

“There are foreign drivers in South Africa but that’s not a problem; they want to force employers to join them at steep fees,” he said.

The protests had put the logistics and transportation industry under pressure, he said.