25 suspects arrested in connection with truck burnings

Police Minister Bheki Cele confirmed on Friday that 25 suspects had been taken into custody following the petrol-bombing and burning of at least 25 trucks in the past few days, The Citizen reports.

The suspects were arrested in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

Earlier in the day, Cele said the army could be called in to be deployed to hot spots if the truck burnings persist.

One of the issues behind the attacks was around labour matters, with the issue being around the employment of foreign nationals instead of South Africans as truck drivers.

“If you look at the last 24 to 48 hours, we have been on top of the situation. We have arrested 25 people and some of them, I think five out of those, received bail,” Cele said, according to Jacaranda FM.

In the last reported incident, two trucks were set alight on the R59 near Albertsdal in Gauteng – one just before midnight and the other after 01:00 on Thursday.

According to police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Brenda Muridili, in one incident, the driver was shot and is in a critical condition in hospital.

“Allegations are that both trucks were set alight by a group of six men driving a Hyundai H100,” Muridili said. “Both trucks at the time had stopped along the R59,” she added.