Swift action needed to stop attacks on trucks

12 July 2023

The recent wave of attacks on trucks and truck drivers in South Africa is not a new phenomenon, it has been occurring for years. It was also one of the precursors of the 2021 unrest in KwaZulu-Natal.

According to Deputy President Paul Mashatile and the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, intelligence services know who is behind the attacks. This raises the question of why action is not taken at once.

It creates the impression that those implicated may have ties with persons in high-ranking positions and that police action might expose them.

President Cyril Ramaphosa did not hesitate to attribute the attacks to economic sabotage. It is very serious and surely warrants the hardest crackdown.

As usual, the President says all the right things, but his words are not followed by actions.

I repeatedly state in my speeches in Parliament that impunity is one of the main reasons why crime is out of control in South Africa.

The current situation is following the same disturbing pattern as the widespread unrest that rocked KwaZulu-Natal in 2021, which also started with attacks on trucks.

Minister Cele says he knows who is behind the attacks. The FF Plus, therefore, demands that action must be taken immediately, before the situation gets totally out of hand.

Issued by Pieter Groenewald, FF Plus leader, 12 July 2023