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TRUCKERS' STRIKE * South Africa - Has millions facing food-shortages in
Africa's biggest economy is threatening to grind to a halt and South Africans face a grim Easter holiday, with a countrywide strike by 77,000 truck drivers in its third day. Fuel stations and food shops in townships are empty; and a driver was killed
Johannesburg,S.Africa -The Digital Journal, by Adriana Stuijt -9 April 2009:-- With South African supermarkets usually running out of food within three days, and black township shops needing daily replenishments, this situation could spiral out of control very quickly: widespread intimidation is already reported in black townships, where fuel stations and shops are reported emptying out of supplies fast by Friday afternoon... Non-striking drivers countrywide are attacked, shot at, petrol-bombed and thrown with huge rocks from bridges in the countrywide strike. Fuel stations, especially in the black townships, report that they are running dry. Many non-striking drivers are being attacked and forced to abandon their trucks in large numbers...
Two trucks have also been petrol bombed in KwaMashu outside Durban. Police were told that they were burnt by people who are on strike... On Tuesday, police also arrested 17 protesters after truck drivers were pelted with stones and intimidated at Pinetown... In Pietermaritzburg, trucks were abandoned in the middle of the road after non-striking drivers were intimidated on Tuesday. According to Sapa, a truck driver was also seriously injured in Port Elizabeth when strikers stoned and petrol-bombed his truck... (Photo 1 (above) from Wikipedia commons: There are more than 120,000 registered black-owned minibus taxis running township traffic patterns in South Africa, and many hundreds-of-thousands of illegal ones. They all rely on the steady stream of fuel from the petrol stations in the black townships - Photo 2 (below) Satawu: 77,000 truckers belonging to the ruling-party alligned South African Transport and Allied Workers Union went on strike. Within three days, all the major black township fuel stations had run dry. Experts say this will be a big blow for the country's economy and create a food-shortage: the monthly thousands of tons of imported food needed to feed the 47-million citizens can't be distributed from the harbours.)
Two trucks have also been petrol bombed in KwaMashu outside Durban. Police were told that they were burnt by people who are on strike... On Tuesday, police also arrested 17 protesters after truck drivers were pelted with stones and intimidated at Pinetown... In Pietermaritzburg, trucks were abandoned in the middle of the road after non-striking drivers were intimidated on Tuesday. According to Sapa, a truck driver was also seriously injured in Port Elizabeth when strikers stoned and petrol-bombed his truck... (Photo 1 (above) from Wikipedia commons: There are more than 120,000 registered black-owned minibus taxis running township traffic patterns in South Africa, and many hundreds-of-thousands of illegal ones. They all rely on the steady stream of fuel from the petrol stations in the black townships - Photo 2 (below) Satawu: 77,000 truckers belonging to the ruling-party alligned South African Transport and Allied Workers Union went on strike. Within three days, all the major black township fuel stations had run dry. Experts say this will be a big blow for the country's economy and create a food-shortage: the monthly thousands of tons of imported food needed to feed the 47-million citizens can't be distributed from the harbours.)Labels: truckers' strikes
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