At least 11 trucks were attacked and burnt by armed groups in the last 24 hours in two provinces of South Africa, South African authorities announced today.
In the province of Mpumalanga, northeast of the country, which borders Mozambique and Essuatíni, five trucks were burnt around midnight Sunday on the N4 national road near Machadodorp, stressed the South African police in Nelspruit, in a statement to which Lusa had access.
“According to available information, two vehicles with five occupants stopped the trucks, ordered the drivers to take their personal belongings before setting the trucks on fire,” Mpumalanga provincial police spokesman Selvy Mohlala said.
“The material damage has not yet been determined,” the spokesman advanced, adding that “the motive behind the chaos is also unclear at this stage.”
Speaking to South African public broadcaster SABC, a driver who requested anonymity said he was driving from Mozambique to Middelburg when he was attacked by five armed and masked men who “pulled him out of the truck and fired a few shots”.
On the important N3 road corridor, which links the port of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal province, the country’s southeastern coast, and Gauteng, home to Johannesburg, the economic capital, and Pretoria, the country’s capital, six trucks were also attacked and burnt by armed groups from Saturday to Sunday, according to South African authorities.
The Road Hauliers Association (RFA) stressed to South African public radio, SABC, that in KwaZulu-Natal “it is a coordinated attack on the road freight transport sector”.
In July 2021, at least 337 people died and more than 3,400 were arrested as a result of rioting and looting that affected South Africa for a few weeks, in which food supplies at shopping centres in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng had been completely cut off due to vandalisation.
Lusa