The Citizen writes that according to economist Mike Schűssler, if all the knock-on effects of the ongoing trucking sector violence were taken into account, the final costs to the country could run into billions of rands.
He warned on Tuesday that the xenophobic strife, sparked by unhappiness over the employment of foreign truck drivers, was “too costly to continue”. With a single vehicle costing R2 million, an employed long-distance driver losing R60 per hour and a three-hour delay on the N3 highway translating to R540,000 per truck, the costs held serious implications all round, Schűssler cautioned. He commented further: “We are dealing with one of the most important sectors of our economy, which is the transport of goods from SA to neighbouring states and to the southern Democratic Republic of Congo.” In the second quarter of 2019, the truck logistics industry contributed 11% of SA’s gross domestic product (GDP), estimated at R1.26 trillion. Schűssler pointed out that the burning of one truck on the N3 highway, which was a long-distance corridor in SA, affected the movement of 6,000 others. He warned that unless the authorities, labour and other stakeholders moved fast to quell the violence, SA’s economic stability and growth was threatened.
- Read the full original of the above report by Brian Sokutu at The Citizen
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