Transport Minister offers condolences to the family of petrol bomb victim

Minister of Transport, Fikile Mbalula, has offered his condolences to the family of the truck driver who died following a petrol bomb attack, Bernard Groenewald.

According to TimesLive, in the early hours of June 2, Groenewald and his brother in law were attacked on the N1 near Touws River.

They pulled over on the side of the road to rest when they were attacked. Groeneweld serious burn injuries and died on Friday, June 14.

Department of Transport spokesperson, Ayanda Allie Paine has called the incident a senseless of an innocent man. Paine stressed that the government was doing its best to restore stability to the trucking industry.

“This was a senseless killing, an innocent man was murdered, a husband and contributing member of our society were attacked, heinously. Our condolences to his friends and loved ones, we assure them and the country that we as the government are doing our best to restore calm in the trucking industry and ensure that this never happens again.”

Truck Drivers face violent and dangers on the road

Recently, it has been reported that truck drivers have been facing increasingly violent conditions on South Africa’s roads.

According to the Road Freight Association’s reports in the road freight industry on average one person, a day has died. In the last year alone, more than 1000 trucks had been damaged or destroyed.

In a TimesLive report, Road Freight Association (RFA) CEO Gavin Kelly, stated that reports of rock-throwing and looting incidents have been increasing.

“Throwing rocks or stones from overhead bridges is something new. We’ve had rocks packed on the road or roads being closed off to bring the truck to a standstill and then burnt. But these incidents now are attacks directly on the driver.”