ATDF ASA organiser Zwakele Magwaza said they couldn't count how many trucks they had pulled over.
“I cannot tell you how many but we stopped them and explained what the protest was about and then we released them to go back to a truck stop and not their destination.”
In Johannesburg trucks blocked the M2 and M1 South as well as the N3/N12 (Geldenhuys Interchange).
The protests coincided with a peaceful march by ATDF ASA members to the national bargaining council offices in Pietermaritzburg where they intended to hand over a memorandum of demands on Monday.
However, the offices were closed when they arrived there, resulting in a stalemate with ATDF ASA members vowing to camp at the premises until someone received their memorandum.
Among their demands, members are asking for a 15% wage increase for truck drivers, not satisfied with the 5% offered, and that all foreign truck drivers be removed immediately and SA-registered trucks be driven by SA citizens.
There was a strong police and army presence on the N2.
Domestic terrorism
According to Lisa Sukdev, media liaison for Positive Freight Solutions (PFS), a non-governmental organisation representing the interests of private logistics companies in SA, ATDF ASA “ignored opportunities” presented to them by PFS.
Sukdev said the industry lost more than R13m during the previous protest initiated by ATDF ASA, saying it amounted to domestic terrorism.
“This loss was a result of work stoppage. The reality is that these losses do not affect the truck owner or the ATDF, the direct affect is experienced by South African citizens going to the shop to purchase consumable goods.”
TimesLIVE has asked the police for comment and will update this report if comment is received.
TimesLIVE
Trucks turned away at Richards Bay, freeways blocked in Joburg
Image: Orrin Singh
Tensions continue to rise within the trucking fraternity as protest action saw dozens of truck drivers pulled over by members of the All Truck Drivers Forum and Allied SA (ATDF ASA) on Monday.
This as ATDF ASA remains at loggerheads with the national bargaining council for the road freight and logistics industry over negotiations and the ongoing feud regarding foreign nationals being employed by industry giants.
A group of about 30 ATDF ASA members pulled over dozens of truck drivers in Richards Bay in northern KwaZulu-Natal as police and soldiers monitored the situation.
Drivers were ordered to pull over or turn around at an informal truck stop along the John Ross Highway, while attempting to enter the port.
ATDF ASA organiser Zwakele Magwaza said they couldn't count how many trucks they had pulled over.
“I cannot tell you how many but we stopped them and explained what the protest was about and then we released them to go back to a truck stop and not their destination.”
In Johannesburg trucks blocked the M2 and M1 South as well as the N3/N12 (Geldenhuys Interchange).
The protests coincided with a peaceful march by ATDF ASA members to the national bargaining council offices in Pietermaritzburg where they intended to hand over a memorandum of demands on Monday.
However, the offices were closed when they arrived there, resulting in a stalemate with ATDF ASA members vowing to camp at the premises until someone received their memorandum.
Among their demands, members are asking for a 15% wage increase for truck drivers, not satisfied with the 5% offered, and that all foreign truck drivers be removed immediately and SA-registered trucks be driven by SA citizens.
There was a strong police and army presence on the N2.
Domestic terrorism
According to Lisa Sukdev, media liaison for Positive Freight Solutions (PFS), a non-governmental organisation representing the interests of private logistics companies in SA, ATDF ASA “ignored opportunities” presented to them by PFS.
Sukdev said the industry lost more than R13m during the previous protest initiated by ATDF ASA, saying it amounted to domestic terrorism.
“This loss was a result of work stoppage. The reality is that these losses do not affect the truck owner or the ATDF, the direct affect is experienced by South African citizens going to the shop to purchase consumable goods.”
TimesLIVE has asked the police for comment and will update this report if comment is received.
TimesLIVE
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