Deputy president Paul Mashatile says the state security agency knows who is behind the torching of trucks, adding that the government was “on top of things”.
Today, police minister Bheki Cele will brief the nation on what cops are doing to clamp down on what appears to be a coordinated attack on at least 16 trucks so far.
The trucks were torched in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga in just two days, a phenomenon condemned as economic sabotage.
On Monday, two trucks were set alight along the N2 highway at around 10pm, KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Brig Jay Naicker said. The trucks were apparently set alight at Canefields, which is between eNseleni and Empangeni.
Limpopo police said three trucks were burnt in Sekhukhune on the R547 Lydenburg Road.
On Sunday morning, five trucks were torched on the N4 route near Waterval Boven. This happened hours after six trucks were set alight on the N3 at Van Reenen’s Pass on the same day.
In an interview with Sowetan yesterday, Mashatile said state security had “gone deeper into who is behind this and have a plan which I can’t discuss”.
Asked if they knew who is behind the arson attacks, Mashatile said: “Yes, state security knows.”
“Government is on top of things. We met with the security cluster, and they have a plan. What we emphasised is that we want visible policing. Regular roadblocks, searches and guarding of borders. There is a comprehensive plan,” Mashatile said.
Ephraim Mphahlele, the general secretary of National Transport Movement, a truck drivers trade union, said he expected the police leadership to tell the country they have either arrested or were in the process of arresting the perpetrators.
“We are extremely worried about the current attacks on trucks and believe law enforcement should knuckle down and [deal with the perpetrators].”
He questioned the police’s effectiveness in dealing with the criminals.
“We don’t believe that those people could conduct those attacks in three different provinces at different times without being detected by our crime intelligence. This means our police officers are on slumberland,” he said.
Mphahlele said the perpetrators should face the full might of the law. “We don’t want the SAPS to tell us that they are still conducting investigations. This surely would mean our crime intelligence is not at requisite standards.”
He said the police should protect drivers – whether they are South Africans, illegal or documented foreigners.
“People are engaged in satanic acts on the basis that they are acting against illegal foreigners who have human rights, they are not less human just because they are in the borders of SA,” said Mphahlele.
He added that there were SA drivers who do cross-border trucking and it would be unfair for them to get attacked in other countries.
Meanwhile, fear has gripped thousands of truck drivers who have been forced to continue to crisscross the length and breadth of the country amid the onslaught.
“We feel like we are sitting ducks waiting to be pounced on by these thugs. There is little that we can do because we have families to feed and our employers are expecting us to get on with the job,” said Mamelani Ncebetha, who works for an agricultural supplies company in Cape Town.
When he spoke with Sowetan late yesterday, he was about to leave Durban for Mbombela via the N3 and N11.
Even though no driver has been harmed in the latest incidents, that doesn’t bring any comfort to Ncebetha.
“I’m scared of getting on the N3 at this time of the day and I had to ask my boss to allow me to sleep over somewhere not far from Durban because once I hit the highway, I’d be very vulnerable.
He said one of the tools drivers depended on was their company’s controllers, who simultaneously monitor the routes for potential threats while drivers are on the road.
Mhlangabezi Ntloko, a Cape Town-based truck driver, is often on the road for up to a month without seeing his family. He said the current situation was dreadful.
“We now don’t know if we will ever see our families again. We pray every time we leave home that our lives will be sparred on the road. We rely mostly on radio controllers who guide us along the way for any dangers. Sometimes they’d divert us and this makes the journey longer and cause delays,” said Ntloko.
Transport minister Lydia Chikunga said: “The road traffic law-enforcement authorities, working under the coordination of the Road Traffic Management Corporation, were working with other law-enforcement authorities to maintain ‘maximum vigilance and to bring perpetrators to book’.”
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