A truck blockade led to traffic being backup on the the N3 between Johannesburg and Durban on Friday morning. Photograph: What’sApp
N3 Truck BLOCKADE: Instigators must be arrested, detained – RFA
The Road Freight Association has called for the swift arrest of instigators of the truck blockade on the N3 between Durban and Johannesburg.
A truck blockade led to traffic being backup on the the N3 between Johannesburg and Durban on Friday morning. Photograph: What’sApp
Truck drivers and instigators who are blockading the N3 between Durban and Johannesburg must be arrested, detained and investigated, the Road Freight Association (RFA) has urged the government.
The appeal for justice comes after the latest truck blockade on the N3 between Durban and Johannesburg at Van Reenen’s Pass led to traffic being backed up for several kilometres during the early hours of Friday morning.
The SAPS said officers had been dispatched to the region to clear the blockade.
“N3 Durban Bound and Johannesburg at Van Reenen’s both directions are closed due to a truck blockade. Traffic is being diverted to alternative routes,” said the South African Police Service (SAPS).
RFA CEO Gavin Kelly said that the logistics industry was “being held captive by those who prefer to work outside the law”.
“The vital N3 route between the Port of Durban and the interior has been blocked, again. Violence and looting has occurred according to some reports – whilst individuals have taken the law into their own hands to pull drivers from trucks to check their personal documents,” Kelly said.
“Law abiding transporters are subjected to this. The Road Freight Association (RFA) has called on government again and again to do what is necessary. They must deal with those who see themselves above the law – arrest, detain and investigate the inciters, those who perpetrate these acts, and those who take it upon themselves to act like police or authorities of the state,” Kelly said.
Police monitoring truck blockade
Kelly said that reports had indicated that the police were monitoring the situation.
He said that employers who continued to break the law, were not registered with the various authorities as required by legislative prescripts or who continued to employ individuals at rates below the minimum wage, must be dealt with.
“The SAPS must intervene and take action – not stand on the sideline and ‘monitor’. We are fast losing any respect as a safe, efficient and desirable route for the movement of goods out of, and into, Africa – and even South Africa,” Kelly said.
