Free State police spokesperson, Motantsi Makhele, says just before midnight the group of 30 drivers lined up their trucks in such a manner that the N3 near the Montrose fuel station, 20 km outside Harrismith, was completely cordoned off. Makhele says as a result, traffic piled up in both directions of the demonstration.

No violence has been reported and public order police are on the scene. 

The bone of contention here is again the recruitment of foreign nationals as truck drivers.

The transport sector has been affected by many attacks on trucks since 2019, across the country but especially in KwaZulu-Natal, where vehicles were torched and in some incidents, foreign drivers were assaulted. 

Concerns have been raised by driver associations that some truck companies prefer foreign national drivers over local ones. This has been in part attributed to foreign drivers being deemed as “cheaper” labour.

As part of the initiatives to tackle problems in the sector, in April 2021 Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula published a draft amendment to the National Road Traffic Regulations that deals with the professional driving permit required for truck drivers, among others.

Makhele says the N3 drivers want Mbalula to address them.

OFM News