Drivers believe that the deploying the army will have minimal impact on attacks on heavy-duty trucks until the reasons for the attacks are known.
This follows the hijacking and torching of 21 trucks on the N2, N3 and N4 highways in KZN, Mpumalanga, Free State and Limpopo over the past week. These events have been widely condemned by government and business leadership, resulting in the arrest of five suspects, with police saying they are closing in on the ringleaders behind the arson.
Petros Molobela, who has been driving trucks for the last 15 years, said the recent attacks were different from previous attacks on road freight because everyone was in the dark about the reasons and people behind them.
“It’s better if there is a strike because you will be informed that ‘for this and that reason we are not working’ and it’s up to you to support it or not. But this is different. We don’t know what they want and which areas to avoid because they just come out of nowhere. They are not telling the people that they have hijacked the reasons,” said Molobela.
Molobela’s sentiments were shared by Mfanafuthi Lubisi, 31, who has been driving since 2014. Lubisi said it was the spontaneous nature of the attacks that made them fearful.
“We’re driving, but we are not comfortable because we don’t know where and when it will happen to you. You don’t know how it started, by whom and what those people want. You’re just hoping your day [to come under attack] is not today ...” said Lubisi.
“There is nothing different I’m doing now except to try to be extra vigilant because this thing is like an accident, you can’t prepare for it. They are doing it on N4, N3 and N2 and not in one spot, so how do you prepare for that?
“My biggest fear is that they throw a petrol bomb while I’m sleeping [in my truck] because the smoke is known to enhance your sleep and next thing you wake up in a burning truck with no way out.”
Enock Tekiso, a heavy-duty truck driver who transports minerals from Rustenburg to Richards Bay port, said there were many possible reasons for the spate of attacks but they were all speculating without insight into the motive.
“It may be locals who are burning trucks in protest against foreign truck drivers or foreigners who are doing it because most of them have been forced out. It may be someone who wants to remove people higher up in the transportation sector, we don’t know,” he said.
The army has been deployed to assist law enforcement in the four provinces affected by the attacks. They have been visibly patrolling around the Mariannhill toll plaza and the N2 around Richards Bay, among other places, but it has done little to ease the drivers’ fear.
“Their presence does relax us a bit, at least in the places that they are stationed. The problem is that you don’t know where the arsonist will come from and when,” said Lubisi.
“It only takes one throw of a petrol bomb to burn a truck. By the time the soldiers arrive, the damage would already be done.”
Molobela thinks the army will guarantee their safety only around the identified key points but not for the rest of their journey.
“The attackers will obviously not do anything in these places, but what about the rest of your journey? It will take them at least 30 minutes to respond to an incident that happens 20km away from here, do you think those people will still be there knowing there is an army coming?” said Molobela.
He said a more effective solution would be finding a balance between holding the attackers responsible for their actions and engaging them to find out their reasons, to try to meet them halfway.
“The solution would be for our leaders to get to know what those people want and take it from there. Because right now everyone is trying to anticipate something they have no clue about,” he said.
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