The government has again moved in to engage truck owners and their employees in a bid to stop the N3 blockade, which has been stifling business since Tuesday.
The three-day blockade of the crucial corridor connecting SA’s economic hubs of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal is said by the road and freight industry to have cost the struggling economy about R300m.
The truckers are calling for an end to the employment of foreign drivers in the sector. In a document dated May 25, the All Truck Drivers Foundation (ATDF-SA) said no SA company should continue employing foreign drivers. It also demanded that the price of petrol and diesel be reduced to R11.28/l.
This week’s blockade is the second in as many years. In 2020, more than 25 trucks were torched on the country’s freeways, with the busy N3 corridor between Durban and Johannesburg being the most targeted.
In a statement on Thursday evening, transport minister Fikile Mbalula, who together with labour minister Thulas Nxesi and his home affairs counterpart, Aaron Motsoaledi, mediating on behalf of the government, said the warring parties were on the verge of an agreement.
“We have taken note of the complaints about the sluggish pace of implementing interventions in areas that we agreed on. A follow-up engagement is scheduled for June 19 with the stakeholders,” Mbalula said.
Gavin Kelly, CEO of the Road Freight Association (RFA), which represents employers in the sector, penned on Thursday an open letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa, saying transporters stuck on various routes lost about R25m in truck operating costs each day the protest by disgruntled local truck drivers continued. “When you add up all the damage and negative costs into the economy, we are well around R300m already.”
The road freight and logistics industry is key to the economy, contributing about R480bn to the economy and employing more than 300,000 people.
It has been the scene of deadly turf wars between local and foreign truck drivers, with the former accusing employers in the sector of preferring to employ foreign drivers.
On Thursday, the N3 was closed to traffic, with a column of trucks stretching for kilometres, obstructing the tollway in both directions on Van Reenen’s Pass.
“Clear the routes. Arrest those drivers complicit with this activity. Deal with the organisers of this sabotage, criminal activity and organised crime,” Kelly said in the letter.
The protest will have a knock-on effect in other sectors, including manufacturing and retail, and will result in “penalties for late delivery, damaged goods, contract breaches and even loss of business and unemployment, he said. “Ships will sail past to other ports — they will not wait for us to get our act together.”
Business Unity SA CEO Cas Coovadia also appealed to the government to take proactive measures to stop such blockages and arrest those responsible. He said the business lobby group was seeking a meeting with the president on the issue.
“We despair at the silence from the minister of transport about this significant disruption of economic activity, at a time when the country needs to instil confidence among investors and put SA onto a sustainable growth path,” Coovadia said.
The blockade is taking place as the economy is still recovering from the recent floods and comes almost a year after the July unrest in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, which cost the economy an estimated R50bn.
Kelly said the president had to end the “sabotage of the country and its economy by the ATDF-SA and their allies. The N3 has been blocked for more than 24 hours.
“Our drivers (and other staff on the trucks) are exposed to severe cold, possible violent looting or other aggravated assault and do not have the means to survive for days stranded in a truck in the middle of nowhere,” he said.
Transnet spokesperson Ayanda Shezi said there was no impact yet of the blockade on the operations of ports. “We will continue to work and plan with the road freight stakeholders to manage any potential congestion once the entry is reopened, as activity levels are expected to be higher,” said Shezi.
The SA Police Service said there was very little it could do. “The keys of the vehicles are not available as the drivers have parked the vehicles and fled,” KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Brig Jay Naicker said.
Naicker said the police and other government departments were on the scene and attempts were being made to tow the trucks that are causing the blockage.
Update: June 16 2022
This story has been updated with addition information.
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