Why tow trucks closed the N2
PROTESTING tow truck operators blockaded the N2 near Spaghetti Junction this morning, causing havoc with peak traffic.
Vehicles stood from eManzimtoti to Spaghetti Junction on the N2, and on the N3 from Westville to the junction with the N2 north.
Metro Police arrived with flatbed trucks and removed three tow trucks that had been abandoned by their operators on the freeway. Police took two truck owners into custody.
The protest action was organised by various blackowned tow truck operators against short-term insurance companies. They allege that they are given only a fraction of the business, the rest given to white-owned tow truck operators.
“The short-term insurance industry is worth approximately R95 billion a year in terms of procurement spend, of which only R1.5 billion goes to black tow truckers and panel beaters and contractors,” said Wesley Douglas, a spokesperson for the tow truck operators.
“This kind of blatant procurement racism is systemic in the industry,” he said, adding that a few companies received the bulk of the work and then sub-contracted it to mostly white-owned companies, giving a small percentage to black suppliers.
“Asking for prospective black clients to support them by putting black faces on their TV and print advertising, and then turning around and using that same black consumers’ premiums, black money, to oppress black service providers and prop up white monopolies is unethical, disingenuous and un-South African,” said Douglas.
Two truck drivers admitted to driving slowly on the freeway, but said they had not come to a complete halt.
Tow truck drivers claimed that Public Order Policing officers had pointed guns at them, forcing them out of their vehicles and removing the keys from the ignition.
Police and metro police also used stun grenades to disperse the drivers.
The N2 northbound was re-opened, but police expected more traffic disruptions in the uMhlanga, Durban North and La Lucia areas today, as the the tow truckers were driving to hand over a memorandum in La Lucia.
They were expected to gather on a vacant plot at the corner of Armstrong Avenue and William Campbell Drive before handing over the memorandum. The drivers had congregated at the old Durban airport at 6am and gradually made their way towards Spaghetti Junction, when they were halted by police before the Jan Smuts Highway Bridge.
Tow truck drivers said they did salvage work at collisions, were always first at accident scenes and informed emergency services and medical response units, which saved lives, but were still being shortchanged. For videos and more pictures, go to http://www.iol.co.za/ dailynews/news/kwazulunatal/watch-protestingtow-truck-drivers-block-n2freeway-during-peak-morningtraffic-9356482