Central SA
Driver injured, trucks damaged after Vaal attack─── 15:19 Fri, 29 Jan 2021
A truck driver was seriously injured after he and four other drivers were attacked on the R59 north near the Kliprivier off-ramp, in Vereeniging, on Thursday night.
Fleetwatch magazine reported on Friday morning that the incident involved a group of men using petrol bombs.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant-General Brenda Muridili confirmed the incident to The Citizen.
Muridili said the group of men stopped the trucks by placing three large tree branches in the road.
Two of the trucks were completely burned. A third caught fire but the driver managed to use a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze.
The other two trucks were reported to have had their side windows broken.
It is alleged that during the attack, a petrol bomb was thrown into one of the trucks, but did not ignite.
The attackers were alleged to have dragged the truck driver out of his vehicle, before assaulting him.
The driver in question is reportedly 50 years old. He is currently recovering in hospital.
Fleetwatch said the remaining drivers managed to escape harm by hiding in a nearby veld.
Trucks burnt out on R59 in Vereeniging last night pic.twitter.com/JV0aBX17pS
— SA Trucker (@rsa_trucker) January 29, 2021
Since November last year, a number of trucks in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal have been repeatedly attacked and torched.
Towards the end of last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa set up an emergency task team of four ministers – Thulas Nxesi of Employment and Labour, Fikile Mbalula of Transport, Aaron Motsoaledi of Home Affairs and Bheki Cele of the Police – to give him an urgent report on the situation.
It is not yet known how far the task team’s work has progressed.
