South African police said on Wednesday 21 trucks have been torched in a series of mysterious attacks that President Cyril Ramaphosa has described as acts of “economic sabotage”.
Unknown assailants set alight four lorries in the north-eastern province of Mpumalanga on Wednesday in the latest in a string of incidents that have alarmed transport operators and businesses.
“We know that these are not just random acts of criminality but organised,” Police Minister Bheki Cele told a press conference in Pretoria.
“Intelligence suggests that the attacks on trucks may be business related,” adding investigations were underway.
About 80 percent of all goods are transported via trucks in South Africa, according to the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU).
The country is a large exporter of minerals and agricultural products and its ports are a key gateway to Europe, Asia and America for goods and raw materials produced in other African nations.
The attacks started on Sunday, the second anniversary of the July 2021 riots which kicked off with the torching of lorries and saw the country engulfed in the worst violence since the end of apartheid in 1994.
But Cele said at the moment there was no evidence linking the recent arsons to the deadly 2021 unrest which claimed over 350 lives.
The truck attacks took place in three provinces on some of the country’s major transport routes. Drivers were forced out of their vehicles at gunpoint by assailants who then set the lorries alight, according to SATAWU’s secretary general Jack Mazibuko.
Speaking Sunday after the first incident, Ramaphosa said he was concerned about the potential “negative impact” on the economy.
“It’s almost like economic sabotage,” he told local media.
South African truck drivers have in the past complained about the employment of foreign drivers. A nationwide protest in 2019 triggered a surge of xenophobic violence that left five people dead.
“We cannot rule out the possibility of criminals who want to hijack the industry while portraying themselves as people who are trying to champion workers’ issues,” said Mazibuko.
No arrests have been made so far but police have identified 12 persons of interest, Cele said.
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