To all foreigners who are driving in South Africa as from 2 June 2019 we no longer want to see you in trucks.
August 31st trucker strike drivers#
In a May statement, the ATDF, whose slogan is “foreign drivers must fall,” called for the resignation of all foreign truck drivers by June 2. Most occurred near Mooi River on the N3 highway, which connects Durban to Johannesburg, Human Rights Watch research indicates.
According to media reports, in a three-week period in May, over 60 trucks were hit with gasoline bombs in several attacks that each targeted multiple trucks.
August 31st trucker strike driver#
Human Rights Watch has independently confirmed 15 of the reported incidents, including the stabbing of Zimbabwean truck driver Tinei Takawira in Durban on March 25, the gasoline bomb attack on a foreign national truck driver in Durban on April 7, and attacks of several foreign truck drivers in Witbank in June. The perpetrators have indiscriminately targeted foreign truck drivers, or trucks owned by companies known to employ foreign truck drivers, nationwide. Since then, the Positive Freight Solutions Forum (PFSF), a South African truck owner association, estimates that there have been over 75 incidents of attacks against foreign truck drivers and their cargo. In March 2019, Human Rights Watch documented attacks against foreign nationals in Durban that led to the displacement of hundreds, some deaths, and several injuries. He did not provide any information on steps that the government had planned to take to increase protection for drivers and deter attacks on them and their trucks. While noting that a 2014 Home Affairs Immigration Directive authorized foreign truck drivers employed by South African companies to work in South Africa on a visitor’s permit, he acknowledged some employers hired foreign truck drivers without following the relevant government policy. South Africa’s home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi told Human Rights Watch that he was aware that the attacks on truck drivers and the burning of trucks had spread from Durban to Mpumalanga province. Map of locations where Human Rights Watch documented attacks on foreign truck drivers in South Africa.ĪTDF leaders told Human Rights Watch that they oppose companies hiring undocumented foreign truck drivers, but 18 of the 23 foreign drivers Human Rights Watch interviewed presented valid South African work permits. In June and July 2019, Human Rights Watch conducted 35 interviews with foreign and South African truck drivers, a lawyer, the minister of home affairs, and activists in Johannesburg, Mpumalanga province’s Witbank town, and Durban and Pietermaritzburg, both in KwaZulu-Natal province. “Any problems in the trucking industry, including undocumented drivers, are for the relevant authorities to address, and there is no defense to groups committing such violent, horrific crimes.” “South African authorities should urgently intervene to stop the unlawful, unprovoked, and violent attacks and harassment of foreign truck drivers and bring the perpetrators to justice,” said Dewa Mavhinga, southern Africa director at Human Rights Watch. Some of the attackers claimed affiliation to the All Truck Drivers Foundation (ATDF), an association of local truck drivers. Many foreign truck drivers have lost their jobs, despite having valid work permits, or have been unable to return to work due to injuries or damage to their trucks.
Groups of people claiming to be South African truck drivers have thrown gasoline bombs at trucks and shot at, stoned, stabbed, and harassed foreign truck drivers to force them out of the trucking industry. More than 200 people – mostly foreign truck drivers – have been killed in South Africa since March 2018, based on research by the Road Freight Association, which represents road freight service providers. (Johannesburg) – The South African government should take urgent measures to protect foreign national truck drivers from violence, intimidation, and harassment in the country’s cycle of xenophobic violence.
We Will Die For Our Country We Want 100% South African Drivers In The Trucking Industry,” outside of the Pietermaritzburg High Court on July 18, 2019. Members of the All Truck Drivers Forum hold a banner that reads, “South Africa First Foreign Drivers Must Fall.
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