Lime truck hijacked and burned near George

A truck was hijacked and set alight near George in the Western Cape, police say.

Captain Bernadine Steyn said a truck transporting limes in two trailers was driving from Heidelberg to Port Elizabeth on Wednesday night when it was hijacked.

The driver, 51, and passenger, 24, had stopped next to the N2 highway near Wilderness around 11pm when four men approached them on foot and smashed its windows.

The gang got into the truck and drove with them towards George.

"The suspects stopped once to pick up an object along the road. Near Zone 9, Thembalethu, the truck stopped again and the suspects and the victims descended from the truck, after which one of the suspects set the truck alight."

The driver escaped unhurt while the passenger was slightly injured.

Steyn said the men took the passenger's cellphone and fled on foot. No arrests had been made.

According to police spokesman Lt-Col Andrè Traut, three trucks were set alight and three more stoned in the province on Wednesday. One truck was set alight on the N2 near Cape Town International Airport and the other at Gunners Circle in Epping. A truck was pelted with stones in Gugulethu on Wednesday morning.

Traut said he could not immediately give information on the other attacks. It was not clear whether the violence was linked to an ongoing strike in the freight sector.

Drivers wanted a 12 percent salary increase while employers offered 8.5 percent for next year, and another 0.5 percent the following year.

Negotiations would resume later on Thursday.