Zimbabwean truck drivers living and working in South Africa say they fear being attacked by anti-immigrant groups who accuse them of stealing trucking jobs from South Africans.
Richard Mudhara, a Zimbabwean truck driver working in Johannesburg, told GroundUp in an interview that he was abducted on 2 March a few kilometres from Durban by three men.
He said his abductors told him they were with the All Truck Drivers Foundation (ATDF) and Operation Dudula.
Mudhara alleged that the men had stopped his truck, smashed the windows and forced him out.
They then tied him up and held him at gunpoint in bushes while his truck was driven away. Said Mudhara:
My mind was racing. They told me they were after truck drivers from Zimbabwe.
They told me to comply or be killed so I prayed for them to let me live.
… I prayed for them to let me live because some who found themselves in similar circumstances, were reported dead.
He said his life was saved when the gunman received a phone call and left him there.
The drivers, with Zimbabwe Exemption Permits (ZEP) permits, claim that rogue police are also extorting them for cash.
However, Operation Dudula, a rising anti-immigrant, vigilante-like group has distanced itself from the attacks.
Zandile Dabula, Operation Dudula’s secretary-general said they don’t fight people, but the government, adding that the movement was yet to focus on the trucking sector.
Not only Zimbabwean drivers are under attack, but other immigrant drivers from Zambia and Malawi are also targeted by xenophobic groups.
Vusimusi Sibanda from the African Diaspora Global Network claimed that 15 immigrant truck drivers were reported to have been killed over the past three years. He said:
People who attacked these truck drivers were not arrested, which is why we have more vigilante groups such as Operation Dudula and the ATDF.
Lives were lost and trucks were destroyed yet no one was ever held accountable and even the government has not done anything to stop these attacks.
Sibanda said the Network was pushing for SAPS and the SA government to intervene in the attacks against immigrant truck drivers.
SAPS spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Robert Netshiunda told GroundUp that they have made several arrests linked to attacks on truck drivers.
Netshiunda urged drivers to report any corrupt activities so that police can investigate them.
He said criminals are behind the spate of attacks on truck drivers three months ago and the attacks had nothing to do with vigilante groups.
*If Zanu is not for Mugabe, Sithole, Nkala, Mujuru or Gumbo, then how can it be yours?*
by Multiverse Dungani
3 hrs ago | 523 Views
Anyone who thinks is a Zanu Member, is a proper **** who will never Learn. ****ishness is the Quality to be Unable to Learn, and unfortunately, in Zimbabwe, we have a surplus of that Quality.
Does anyone remember President Mugabe saying a pen cannot override the command of a gun? Does anyone remember Grace Mugabe declaring that she would execute a "Baby Dumping" on Joyce Mujuru? Is anyone old enough to remember Edgar Tekere confessing that Zanu is a club for armed thugs? Does anyone remember that Zanu was formed by Ndabaningi Sithole who later died under Zanu persecution? Does anyone remember Rugare Gumbo claiming that Zimbabweans were supporting Zanu for its vibrant programmes in August 2012?
Does anyone, with a working mind, remember how Mutasa would kill for Zanu? What does it take for a level headed person to see empirical evidence from Margaret Dongo who spent her life fighting for Zanu, but now confesses that Zanu is a mistake for Zimbabwe's progress?
Why would anyone want to be reminded of Enos Nkala, under whose roof Zanu was formed in 1963, and how he died an enemy of Zanu.
Who remembers a proud chap called Ignatius Chombo who used to be sure that Zanu was his Party? What about Webstar Shamhu who invented Mugabe Cremora mantra?
My question goes to a young educated thinker who is still stuck in Zanu. Do you really think you are more important to Zanu than Enos Nkala? Than Ndabaningi Sithole? Than Mugabe? Tekere, Chombo, Gumbo, Mujuru, Dongo, Shamhu, Grace or anyone who has been humiliated by Zanu including Mnangagwa himself?
Why would someone educated beyond grade 4, really fail to see that Zanu-PF has got no friends at all? It has an infinite mass of ****s to keep using, casting and recycling while eroding Zimbabwe resources at gun-point.
Does anyone with a little brain doubt that Mnangagwa and his wife and all their children will end up jailed by a new Zanu leader, maybe Kasukuwere or Mzembi? Is anyone aware that anything is possible in Zanu? Isn't Grace Mugabe more afraid of Zanu than myself today? Has it ever visited anyone's imagination that Mugabe would one day ask Zimbabweans to vote for MDC rather than Zanu?
Which Zanu Leader has ever enjoyed a safe retirement from Zanu without being hunted? Why would Mnangagwa be the first or are we incapable to learn from the past? Show me Sithole accumulated wealth today? What about Enos Nkala? Does anyone think Mugabe will have a single cow to pass to his children in ten years from now? What gain does Zimbabwe, as a country, gain from unlimited Hero-Worshiping? Where is the Cremora and what can we show as a Nation out of it?What do we expect to gain from-PFeee or wearing Rags of Many Colours that our President Weaved For Us? Are we really an educated country?
How can anyone fail to learn that Zanu is far away from being an innovative Party that can bring economic advantage to Zimbabwe, but a bunch of Armed operators who use our Police and Army to accumulate stolen wealth for the leaders?
We only have ourselves to blame if we openly and voluntarily repeat the same mistakes of propping up Zanu even when our soldiers earn less than a garden-boy in South Africa.
Then u hear murakashi busy defending zanu apa munhu wacho is a youth nxa people must wake up and smell the coffee. YELLOW NATION👆👆👆👆 @Tee