Arson attacks on trucks driving on South African roads have the potential “to deeply harm South Africa’s reputation as a source of leading services needed in the rest of Africa,” Labour and Employment Minister Thulas Nxesi warned on Friday.
Nxesi said the attacks, if allowed to continue, would negatively affect the country’s already struggling economy.
“The attacks on our transport infrastructure will only serve to undermine our economic reconstruction and recovery plans,” Nxesi said.
The trucks are the life-blood of the South African economy, he said.
“We’ve just signed the African Continent Free Trade Area Treaty. We are talking about access to the continental market of more than a billion people.
“In terms of the GDP, we’re talking about millions of dollars in business for this country. So, South Africa cannot be an island,” the minister said.
The dramatic increase in truck attacks in the country, especially on vehicles driven by foreign drivers from neighbouring Zimbabwe and Zambia, has led the Truckers Association of South Africa to conclude that the attacks were xenophobic in nature because no goods were stolen from the incidents.
According to the association, there have been some 84 separate attacks on trucks in the country, with KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng Provinces bearing the brunt of the violence.
NM/jn/APA