Labour and Employment Minister Thulas Nxesi has warned that the dramatic increase in truck attacks in the country will deeply harm South Africa’s reputation as the destination of providing leading services in Africa.
Since April there have been 84 separate attacks on trucks in the country.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has established an inter-ministerial committee to deal with the dramatic increase in truck attacks in the country.
The committee will comprise of ministers and senior managers of the Departments of Employment and Labour, Home Affairs, Police, Transport and State Security, together with the office of the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, which is one of the major hotspots for the attacks.
The Truckers Association of South Africa says that these attacks are xenophobic because many drivers are foreign nationals and no merchandise was stolen.
Nxesi says the attacks will negatively affect the country’s already struggling economy.
“ The incidents of these attacks on the trucks which deliver the goods and these services are the life-blood of the South African economy. They must be condemned. We’ve just signed the African Continent Free Trade Treaty. The attacks on our transport infrastructure will only serve to undermine our economic reconstruction and recovery plans and this is supposed to be boosting the economy. We are talking about access to the market of more than a billion people. In terms of the GDP, we’re talking about R2.6 billion, so South Africa cannot be an island. The matter is complex.”
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