Communities call off coal truck protest to avert havoc on KZN road

KwaZulu-Natal communities have called off a protest over excessive coal trucks on regional roads after traffic congestion became problematic just hours into the demonstration.  

On Thursday morning, communities affected by a significant increase in trucks ferrying export coal from Mpumalanga to KwaZulu-Natal ports prevented access to coal trucks on the R33.

While other traffic was permitted to flow, side-tipper trucks carrying coal were not permitted past a physical barrier erected on the road and were instructed to either park or find an alternative route.

Ronnie Gevers, convenor of the R33/34/66 Joint Operations Committee (JOC) – the grouping behind the protest – said the committee, in consultation with the authorities and all interested parties, had decided to open the road on Thursday afternoon instead of carrying out the demonstration until 18:00 as planned.

“In light of the magnitude of the effect of this operation, we decided we had to do something because we want to at all times be responsible. We don’t want to cause havoc.”

The major disruption, Gevers said, was not caused by the protest itself, but rather by two trucks that had stopped in the road, 1km away from the protest, and the drivers had simply disappeared. The resultant traffic was posing a risk, especially to livestock in transit on the route, he said.

The public has since been able to move the trucks off the road.

The protest was supported by communities living in towns and surrounding areas along the R33, the R34, and R6, including Ermelo, Piet Retief, Paulpietersburg, Vryheid, Melmoth, and Utrecht.

Abnormal-load coal trucks have diverted to the R33, R34 and R66 over the past four weeks after a deadly accident on the N2 in Pongola caused a community outcry over the traffic. Truck traffic through KwaZulu-Natal has significantly increased amid high export coal prices and poor railing services from Transnet.

The JOC handed a memorandum to the local ward councillor as the provincial Department of Transport did not show up.

“I think this was perhaps the beginning of more action,” Gevers said. That will be decided by what results from our actions. It cannot carry on like this. If we have to, we will have another operation like that, or we will use alternative means … but we want to act responsibly at all times.”

Arnoux Maré, managing director of Innovation Staffing Solutions, a leading operational outsourcing company impacted by the demonstration, said many coal exporters used the route in question.

“This type of [protest] has the potential to cause about R200 million in damages a day to mines and transport companies; this will result in job losses and further industrial unrest,” he said.