Government on Monday introduced an 11-point plan to end the dispute by truck drivers in the freight and logistics industry over the employment of international nationals.
This adopted final week’s blockade of the N3 by disgruntled truck drivers, who declare employers in the trucking industry are overlooking native truck drivers in favour of foreigners.
An Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) – comprising of the ministers of labour, transport, residence affairs and police – offered the signed action plan throughout a media briefing in Pretoria.
Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi stated protests by disgruntled truck drivers, which included blocking nationwide roads in current years, had compromised the nation’s financial actions and led to disruptions to provide chains and freight logistics.
ALSO READ: N3 blockades: Here are the native truck drivers’ key calls for
Nxesi stated the plan to end the dispute in the industry was unanimously agreed to by all stakeholders throughout a gathering held on Sunday, aside from the Road Freight Association (RFA) which raised issues over the introduction of working licenses.
The minister stated the IMC would proceed to interact with the RFA on their issues.
“We have agreed that further engagements will continue in this forum to come up with the solutions,” he stated.
The implementation plan consisted of the next actions:
1. Appointment of job staff for trucking industry;
2. Enforcement of the Visa necessities;
3. Need for consideration of all international driving licenses;
4. Registration and compliance with South African labour legal guidelines;
5. Registration of operators in time period of Section 45 of the National Road Traffic Act (NRTA);
6. Review of the Traffic Register Number;
7. Review of the Cross-Border Road Transport Legislation;
8. Amendment of the National Road Traffic Regulation;
9. Integrated joint multi-disciplinary regulation enforcement operations to end violence and blockages on nationwide roads;
10. Implement Driver Training Programme; and
11. Consideration of the introduction of Operating Licenses for the industry.
The different stakeholders who signed the action plan included the All Truck Drivers Foundation (ATDF), Truckers Association of South Africa (TASA), and the Motor Transport Wokers Union (MTWU)
Skilled truck drivers
Nxesi stated the declare by some operators in the industry that South Africa lacked expert truck drivers was discovered to be false.
This adopted inspections and regulation enforcement operations by the departments of employment and labour and residential affairs, which reported that truck driving was an considerable ability in the nation.
“The Department of Home Affairs reported they had conducted over 21 joint multi-disciplinary law enforcement operations and inspections to assess the extent of use of foreign and at times illegal truck drivers,” Nxesi stated.
Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi emphasised that the employment of unlawful international nationals in the trucking industry was prohibited by regulation.
“When we do our operations on the street, we examine whether or not an individual is authorized or not.
“And let’s make it very clear, it is illegal to hire an illegal person in the country and we don’t understand why employers should do that,” Motsoaledi stated.
Government stated 213 international truck drivers had been arrested after being discovered to be in contravention of immigration legal guidelines. Nineteen of these arrested had been in possession of fraudulent documentation.
Meanwhile, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula stated the 11-point plan can be monitored frequently to guarantee all stakeholders caught to their commitments.
This included month-to-month report conferences to evaluation progress on actions being applied.
“It’s not going to be easy going forward on some of these issues. Where we don’t agree, we will still engage going forward,” Mbalula stated.
“We’ve got timeframes that every month we will meet at this assembly to evaluate the implementation of the work plan.”
NOW READ: N3 blocked by truck drivers, motorists urged to use alternate routes
