Without trucks, South Africa stops: RFA
The Road Freight Association (RFA) says without trucks being operational, South Africa will grind to a halt.
This after a recent series of truck attacks across the country which have been deemed to be economic sabotage by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The first incident happened on Saturday night, when six trucks were torched on the N3 in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), followed by five trucks that were set alight in Mpumalanga, another three trucks in Limpopo and on Tuesday morning, two more trucks went up in flames on the N2 near Empangeni also in KZN.
Road Freight Association CEO Gavin Kelly says the attacks on the truck industry will have dire effects to the economy and for citizens.
“The road freight sector carries 80% of the goods that are moved in and around South Africa, as well as for those countries that trade with international markets and use South African ports for import and export”.
“Those who attack the road leg of logistics supply chains need to understand that the long-term effects will bring greater destruction to employment levels, and will result in further job losses, as businesses and supporting sectors shrink and trade moves away from South Africa.
“Without trucks, South Africa stops”.
Kelly says it is crucial that law enforcement agencies urgently find those responsible for the attacks.
“The cost to the South African economy, taking all the above into consideration, will run into billions of rands lost, as business confidence from foreign investors plummets, and those who use South Africa as a transit hub turn away from us and move to other countries that are safer and more efficient.
“However, the more important questions to be answered are: Who is behind this attack, and why? The targeted precision of the attack is worrying. This was well planned and efficiently implemented.”
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