Police take action to stop attacks on trucks

Traffic operations on N7 to intensify after four arson incidents

INTENSIFIED traffic operations have started on the N7 after a driver was seriously injured in an arson attack at the Porterville intersection.

Since Monday, four trucks were set alight in separate incidents. The motive was unknown.

Police spokesperson FC Van Wyk said a 43-year-old driver and his passenger were travelling from Klawer to Cape Town at about 12am yesterday, to deliver vegetables to a market, when they were forced off the road outside Moorreesburg by the drivers of two white Mercedes Benzes. Something was thrown at the truck, which started to burn.

Minutes later, a driver was seriously injured when a petrol bomb was thrown in his truck after he pulled over for a nap.

Another driver had a narrow escape after the drivers of two sedans forced him off the Piekenierskloof Pass near Eendekuil at about 2am. He was held up at gunpoint while the truck was set alight.

These incidents came after a truck was stoned and set alight on the N2 in Strand on Monday. At the time the truck was empty.

Van Wyk said cases of malicious damage to property, attempted murder and public violence were being investigated.

Western Cape traffic chief Kenny Africa said a decision had been taken to intensify traffic police’s visibility on the N7 after the attacks

“From tonight (yesterday), traffic officials and other relevant authorities will be deployed on the N7 to curb the attacks and prevent them from spreading to other hot spot areas,” he said.

The chairperson of Truckers For Unity SA, Derick Ongansie, a co-operative that represents more than 200 truck owners, said: “We condemn the violence on trucks and call for an end to it. An attack on trucks is an attack on the economy, which will not only be felt locally, but also internationally. Truck owners are already under pressure from a shrinking economy.”

Ongansie said the incidents were “pure vandalism and criminality, which has shaken truck drivers”.

“We didn’t expect this to happen in the Western Cape as it has been calm. These people are inciting violence, and hopefully, they will be apprehended soon.”

Transport MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela said: “I was dismayed to hear that four trucks had been torched. The recent attacks are criminal and an obstruction to economic development in our province.

“These criminal acts cannot be tolerated. An integrated approach will be co-ordinated through the relevant police stations.

“I will again engage the trucking industry and other stakeholders to discuss the ongoing attacks.”