Hot meal ban a bitter pill to swallow for truck drivers

Truck drivers who spend hours on the road, dependent on getting hot meals at their rest stops in petrol stations along their routes, have told of the horrible weeks they have had on the road, unable to get proper food.

The Covid-19 lockdown regulations ordered all restaurants, even those at petrol stations along highways, not to operate.

Simon Potelwa, who works for a freight logistics company, has for years bought hot meals from street vendors on the road near Witbank.

The vendors have had to shut down during the lockdown, forcing him to change his diet.

“I now have bread and milk while I am on the road. There’s nothing else,” Potelwa said.

“I look forward to going home now because that is the only place I can get decent food.”

Pfunzo Makhera is a truck driver from Limpopo who has just returned to work.

Ironically, he delivers food products for restaurants as far as Musina.

The 46-year-old man said while out on the road, he has had to resort to eating soft food since there was no prepared food in the stores.

“It is difficult, especially as a Venda man who is used to eating hot food like pap.

“So this means I must eat constantly as bread is not sufficient,” he said.

Another driver, Kenneth Setati, delivers frozen and chilled food in the Limpopo province.

“There are no prepared foods in the stores, so often we have to go without eating or we just eat bread,” he said.

“When your stomach is empty, it is difficult for your mind to function.”

International humanitarian organisation Ashraful Aid is sympathetic to the plight of truck drivers.

The organisation has set up a food distribution station at the City Deep truck stop in Johannesburg, where they hand out warm and freshly prepared food to truckers.

They also set up another food station at a petrol station near the Vaal.