Parliament, Wednesday, 10 November 2021 – The Select Committee on Transport, Public Service and Administration and Public Works and Infrastructure today received a briefing from the Department of Transport on the draft Regulation 116A in terms of section 75 (6) of the National Road Traffic Act, 1996 (Act no 93of 1996).

The committee heard from Mr Johannes Makgatho of the Department of Transport that the disgruntled South African truck drivers had embarked on an industrial action due to allegations that the freight industry was employing more foreigners as truck drivers than South Africans.

The committee further heard allegations that the road freight industry has been flouting the immigration and labour laws to employ foreign truck drivers who accept lower wage than the minimum wage prescribed by the Department of Employment and Labour. The committee heard that this resulted in a high level of violence perpetrated against foreign truck drivers.

The draft regulation proposes that the South African registered trucks be operated by drivers in possession of a South African issued professional driving permit, as empowered by Section 32 (3) (a) of the National Road Traffic Act, 1996 (Act no. 93 of 1996).

The committee also heard that some employers accept foreign issued public driving permits (PDPs) at face value without any authentication of any such permit, and that some of them are abusing this grey area to employ foreign drivers and remunerate them with lower wage than the minimum prescribed wage.

The committee did not support the proposed amendments to the regulation and has requested the Department of Transport to carefully consider the practicalities of travel within the Southern African Development Community.

The Chairperson of the committee, Mr Kenny Mmoiemang, said: “We are informed by the inputs which have been made and a lot of work needs to be done on this regulation and therefore this draft regulation is sent back to the department.”

He added: “There is nothing barring foreign nationals from driving trucks in our country and we cannot discriminate against foreigners. We subscribe to the values enshrined in our Constitution.”

ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORT, PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION AND PUBLIC WORKS AND INFRASTRUCTURE, MR KENNY MMOIEMANG.

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