A phone call early in the morning on July 6 would signal the start of a waking nightmare for the owner of Vryheid Meatmasters, Patrick Friend. Patrick was awoken by a call from one of his truck drivers on the way to do a delivery in Durban. The driver had been alerted of possible service delivery protest action in the area. Patrick advised him to enquire at the local police station in Melmoth about the situation. Melmoth SAPS told the driver there was a “little trouble” in the area. For safety reasons, the drivers stayed over and only started moving again at 5.30am after they were advised by the police that it was safe to travel. Patrick, who had cameras and a tracking system installed in the trucks, could see on his phone that debris was burning next to the road, but the road itself looked clear. At approximately 10 kilometres before Eshowe, the drivers noticed groups of people gathering at the side of the road, but the situation seemed calm. However, about 300m ahead in the road, one of the drivers noticed that burning tyres were blocking the road. The first truck driver pulled over and was joined by the others. One of the truck drivers decided to go back the way he had come and was starting to turn the truck when a log was thrown in front of the vehicle. The driver veered around the log and drove back in the direction of Melmoth. Unfortunately, he got stuck between two points of protesters on the road, which stretched about 2 kilometres. Patrick was in telephonic contact with the truck drivers at all times. “It was stressful for both me and the drivers,” said Patrick during an interview with the Herald. A silver bakkie pulled up in front of the first truck to block it and the occupants told the driver to get out. The driver, who was still in the truck, had rocks thrown at him. The tormenting continued for almost two and a half hours. The protesters managed to open the first truck and raided 130 pig carcasses to the value of R320,000. This after ‘helping themselves’ to the second truck, where they took 50 pigs and R67,000 worth of beef. The total of the stolen stock added up to R495,000. While the protesters were raiding the trucks, one of the local people warned the first driver to be vigilant and told him to leave as soon as he could. At that moment, the driver made the choice to leave and bolted through the debris and burning tyres in the road. The other two trucks followed his example and they managed to escape the situation. “It was hard making decisions, as my staff’s lives were in my hands,” said Patrick. He further stated that the company is about people, and their lives come first. All the drivers and their assistants are currently receiving trauma counselling. The case is under investigation by Eshowe SAPS after a docket was opened in Vryheid and then transferred to Eshowe.
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