Ermelo truck owner extorted for money by alleged imposter

ERMELO – Highvelder recently received a report of a man purporting to be a representative of the South African All Truck Drivers Forum (ATDF), who had allegedly threatened and extorted owners of truck companies out of thousands of rands.

A local truck owner said one of his drivers, a Zimbabwean national, was pulled over outside Ermelo on the Breyten road on October 24.

The truck owner received a phone call from this man, who informed him that he represented the ATDF in the Ermelo area, and he allegedly threatened to harm his driver.

The driver was restrained with cable ties while the man allegedly demanded R3 000 from the owner, otherwise he would burn his truck.

“We tried to de-escalate the situation, but eventually decided to pay the money to ensure no harm would come to the driver,” the owner said.

He said the man called him again the following day and demanded that he pay them a monthly fee to exempt them from any future threats. He was told that should he refuse, his trucks would be marked and burnt.

The man told the owner of the truck company in a voice note that Highvelder obtained, that he was not forcing him to do anything, but rather that he was offering him a solution to simplify matters for him.

He indicated that if he agreed to contribute monthly, like several other companies did, his trucks would not be pulled over.

“We want to make a simple deal for you, because you have a lot of drivers and some of them are foreigners. So with other companies they contribute to us and we no longer stop any trucks of them, but if you refuse there is not much that I can say,” this man is heard saying on the voice recording.

“I’ll put those trucks in the group, it’s how we operate,” the recording ended.

Highvelder sent media enquiries to both the Ermelo and Breyten police, who are looking into the matter.

Read the complete article in today’s Highvelder.