South African and they are setting up illegal roadblocks and confiscating trucks from foreign truck drivers.
Foreign truck drivers have faced an increasing threat and many fear for their lives as it is becoming increasingly dangerous for them to ply their trade in South Africa.
The video sent to Report Focus News shows a group of these rouges as they harass a driver from Zimbabwe.
“These people have no authority to be asking for our work permits or passports let alone setting up these illegal checkpoints to ask us to show them our drivers licenses” said one foreign driver
“What you see these guys doing in that video and many others that have been circulating on social media is a common thing that we witness every day as foreign drivers”
The drivers that Report Focus News spoke to lamented the fact that these rouges have the audacity to show their faces on some of these videos in which they are harassing and at times beating up foreign drivers. “They have the guts to show their faces because the authorities here have allowed these xenophobic acts to go unpunished.” Said another driver.
The media in South Africa has grown weary of reporting on this and that adds to the normalisation of xenophobia, as no one in authority seems to be speaking up against it.
In the past years the Leader of the EFF Julius Malema, condemned these xenophobic attacks on foreigners.
Another driver reminisced on the impact Malema was making
“When Julius Malema spoke against attacks on foreigners we were feeling a lot more positive as this was in a way educating some of these locals to accept that foreigners who are employed by trucking companies require permits to work.”
“We are not illegal and we don’t deserve this harassment no human being deserves such treatment we are all trying hard to provide for our families. We did not come to take away anyone’s job. The nature of most of these trucking companies is that these companies are international trucks will go across the Sadc nations. I think some of the local people think all trucks just deliver and ferry local goods. It’s a shame to hear some of these locals fronting as unionists saying only South African drivers should be employed what happens to a South African driver sent with a load to Zambia? Would they be happy to hear that their Zulu brother was beaten up in Zambia and had their truck taken by unemployed drivers and told you have taken a Zambians job?”
The foreign drivers that spoke to Report Focus News said they literally hide their driver’s licenses and permits because they fear these vigilante rouges would destroy their documents out of spite.