South African truck drivers' associations this week called off a planned 'national shutdown', but simmering tension over the employment of so-called non-South African drivers could boil over at any time.

Tension in South Africa's trucking industry over the hiring of foreign truck drivers has been raging for almost six years and appears to be far from over.

After calling off a planned "national shutdown" on Monday, the All Truck Drivers' Forum and Allied South Africa (ATDF-ASA) said, "The ATDF-ASA contends that several trucking companies in the country routinely and illegally hire foreign truck drivers at a lower cost to increase profits. As a result, South African truck drivers are left jobless."

Over the past six years, there have been sporadic outbreaks of attacks in which dozens of trucks have been torched, and ongoing protests and road blockages at hotspots countrywide.

The attacks are based on perceptions that the industry employs foreign truck drivers to the exclusion of South African drivers because there is a scarcity of skilled truck drivers in South Africa.

Scarce skills

South Africa's scarce skills provision states that foreigners can only be hired for jobs for which there is a local scarcity of skills. However, South African drivers and their representatives argue there is not a scarcity of skilled truck drivers in the country.

This view is shared by Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi.

Briefing the...