Africa-Press – South-Africa. Two more people have been arrested in connection with the torching of trucks in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.
National police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said the two suspects had been arrested in Mpumalanga and Limpopo on Friday and Saturday.
He added that the suspect arrested in Limpopo had been found with an unlicenced firearm in their possession.
Altogether, five people have now been arrested.
“Police are confident that they are closing in on the ring leaders behind these acts of criminality,” Mathe said.
More than 20 trucks have been torched in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo this month.
According to City Press, police have increased their visibility on major highways and remain on high alert following sporadic torching of trucks in Mpumalanga, Limpopo, the Free State, Gauteng, and KwaZulu-Natal.
They have allegedly already identified 12 people in connection with the attacks.
Police Minister Bheki Cele, who addressed the media in Pretoria on Wednesday, said the police had adopted a “zero-tolerance approach to avert more attacks”, while also focusing on finding those behind the torching of the trucks.
“It is on this score that the SA Police Service has heightened visibility and is leaving nothing to chance in all the provinces. All major routes have been secured, and regular patrols are being conducted along the identified high-risk routes,” he said.
News24 previously reported that one torched truck belonged to LI Coal Resources (PTY) LTD.
The driver, who escaped unharmed, was travelling between Ermelo to Piet Retief in Mpumalanga on Tuesday morning when he noticed a truck blocking the road.
“He stopped to check what was going on and, in that process, one guy knocked on the door holding a gun and started using vulgar language,” LI Coal Resources CEO Bongani Phillips told News24.
He said the driver had tried to reverse in an attempt to get away, but that the attackers had thrown a petrol bomb at him.
“Fortunately, he was able to stop the truck and jump out of the burning truck. He is extremely traumatised,” Phillips added.
The one-month-old truck, worth R2.7 million, had as little as 2 000km on the clock.
Meanwhile, amid the ongoing attacks on trucks, Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said companies hiring foreign nationals as truck drivers were doing so “to protect their cheap labour”.
Motsoaledi added that he did not support the violence, which had resulted in more than 20 trucks being torched in parts of the country.
However, he said he felt the pain of local drivers.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
