Maputo — Truckers from South Africa on Wednesday morning blocked the motorway between South Africa and Mozambique, on the South African side of the border, in the latest protest against rising fuel prices.

The regional operations manager of the company Hi-Tech Security Nelspruit, Callum MacPherson, in a report with the Bloomberg agency, explained that the N4 motorway was blocked by a long line of trucks.

"Police in Mbombela tried in vain to remove the trucks, moments after drivers had parked their trucks and left with their keys", South African Police Service (SAPS) spokesman, Selvy Mohlala, said by phone, adding that "police tried to redirect traffic to other areas where there is no record of protests yet."

These disturbances came two days after operators of minibuses, colloquially known as chapas, in Maputo stopped their activities in protest at the fuel price increases.

The South African police shifted the blame for Wednesday's disturbances onto minibus-taxi drivers. Mohlala said it was these drivers who had instigated the blocking of main roads.

"They're the ones who are responsible for the paralysis", he said, "but they used the trucks to communicate their claims. The taxi-drivers had supposedly forced the truckers to use their vehicles to block the roads.

The South African police made 15 arrests, accusing the suspects of public violence and assault.