The N3 at the Mariannhill toll plaza in Pinetown near Durban was closed on Friday morning by members of the Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association.
The veterans gathered in protest of what they called the “mass murder” of farm workers and the exploitative conditions under which they live.
Protesters clad in camouflage halted traffic in both directions‚ even pausing in the middle of the busy national freeway to burn an old South African flag.
This follows a national protest against the murder of farmers staged earlier this month‚ when combine harvesters‚ tractors and bakkies caused a traffic snarl along the N3 near Bergville and Estcourt in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands.
About 250 farmers from the areas around Bergville‚ Estcourt‚ Himeville‚ Colenso and Ladysmith‚ wearing shorts and black shirts‚ drove in a convoy along the R74 and onto the N3 toward Johannesburg as part of the #BlackMonday protest.
The movement‚ while widely supported‚ courted controversy when protestors sang Die Stem and burned the South African flag.
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