ATDF against foreign truck drivers
File Photo

A group comprised of local South African truck drivers has been moving around trucking companies in Gauteng and Mpumalanga forcing them to fire all foreign truck drivers and replace them with South Africans.

I am one of the foreign drivers who was working at [company name removed] but am now out of a job because of this group, claiming to be ATDF members. They came and threatened our employer that if he didn’t drop us then they would burn his trucks.

We could not leave our yard on Sunday 21 June 2020 because they blocked the gate for any foreign truck driver.

What pains me the most is that my employer (if I manage to get the job back), has parked his trucks off and didn’t hire these guys.

It means he is not going to service his clients which may lead to job cuts at the company leaving me the foreign driver and the local truck driver still out of a job, and maybe even more.

You may have seen a memorandum from [company name removed] on social media which states that their company is considering rationalisation and restructuring of operations after the radical group visited them.

The company states that ATDF wants them to get rid of foreign truck drivers but they were in a catch 22 situation whereby if they obey, they face being sued for unfair dismissal while disobeying also means disruption to operations.

I am worried about what my future holds. I have been legally employed in South Africa from 2010 and pay my taxes n all but what’s happening now especially in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic worries me a lot.

My hope is that the government intervenes soon to avoid any loss of property or life as we have seen in recent years.

This is a user-submitted article, the views expressed in this article are that of the author and not necessarily those of SA Trucker.

Editor’s note:  The name of the mentioned trucking companies have been hidden to protect them from unnecessary attention.  SA Trucker, however, contacted both companies mentioned by the writer and they confirmed being forced to get rid of foreign truck drivers but they refused to comment further. 

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