Truckers stuck at Moz border wary of criminals

Truck drivers had to sleep in their vehicles outside Lebombo border while wary of criminals who might take advantage to rob them. 

A 10km-long queue of trucks was lined up along the N4 on Wednesday afternoon as drivers waited to be allowed into Mozambique, where there’s been unrest since the October 9 elections, with some residents unhappy with the results.

The unrest, which started in Maputo, escalated closer to the Lebombo border as protesters torched cars and used trucks to block the main road leading to the capital city.

Motorists and other travellers could not go through after the Border Management Authority (BMA) on Wednesday shut the border after the escalation of the unrest.

Truck driver Solomon Hlatshwayo, whodrove from Rustenburg in North West to drop off chrome at the Mozambique harbour on Tuesday morning, said he was told he could not go through because of violence.

He said the delays might affect his salary as he was paid per load transported. “I waited for the whole day and slept in the truck. This has hampered my work because I have three loads to transport a week but now I’m waiting here with one load, which I don’t even know if it’s going to be delivered,” he said.

Another trucker, Sipho Ngomane, said most of the drivers were scared to sleep in their trucks in case they get mugged. “I don’t care about losing money, as I work per load, but the truth is that here anything, including rape, robbery and kidnapping, can happen as it did a year ago when there were delays with the BMA system,” he said.

“So, sleeping here for two days can be traumatic. I wish the situation can calm down in Mozambique and the border opened.” he said

However, some street vendors like Maulidio Nhavotso – who sells snacks, fizzy drinks, sweets and cigarettes to the truckers – took advantage of the delays to make a quick buck. “Business is going well since last week. But I started making more money from Monday until today [Tuesday]. Each day I stock twice, and take home about R800. My children are going to have Christmas clothes and nice food,” said Nhavotso.

Lungile Nkuna and Thandeka Bruce drive around in the their bakkie selling pap and meat, and amahewu. “We stay in Mjejane, where we also sell food, but when we saw the traffic jam from our homes, we decided to take advantage of it. We sell more than 100 plates [a day] at R65 each, and we also sell cold drinks at R20, which usually cost R14 ... but they buy it here,” said Bruce.

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