BENNIE MUNDANDO writes
PROTESTS over alleged disproportionate employment of foreign workers in the trucking industry in South Africa will not affect fuel supply in Zambia, the Petroleum Transporters Association of Zambia (PTAZ) has said.
PTAZ secretary general Benson Tembo yesterday told the Daily Nation that this is because Zambian petroleum trucks stopped traversing South Africa as none of the Government-procured fuel comes from that country.
Mr Tembo said the fuel procured from Zambia was imported through the Dar-es-Salaam and Beira corridors in Tanzania and Mozambique respectively.
“We are very safe. We don’t have businesses in South Africa. Our fuel only comes from Beira in Mozambique and Tanzania,” Mr Tembo said.
On Tuesday, South African truck drivers blocked roads in Cape Town and Johannesburg and other cities as part of the banned National Truck Shutdown protests.
The drivers in that country denounces the hiring of foreign workers.
In Cape Town, the Huguenot Tunnel, on the N1 road, was cleared after truck drivers blocked it with their vehicles. On the N2, a truck was parked across the road between Victoria Road and De Beers. Two trucks were impounded as a result of these blockages.
In Johannesburg, local media reports that security personnel cleared the M2 highway in Benrose after two trucks were blocking the road. Dozens of protesters also reportedly gathered in City Deep in Johannesburg as part of the protests.
The protests are being held due to what South African truck drivers believe is the disproportionate employment of foreign workers in the trucking industry in South Africa, leading to unemployment amongst South African nationals.
