Company comments on truck woes

Local company Wilmar Continentals has once again apologised for the inconvenience that Randfontein road users are experienced due to a fleet of trucks that are in town to deliver goods to the company.

This after an article in last week’s herald which highlighted some of the problems caused by the trucks.

According to Wilmar Continentals general manager Leon Niemand, the company planned to have all deliveries completed within three weeks, but due to various challenges, it is now taking longer than expected

“We normally do not receive this many deliveries at once,” says Niemand.

“This is the first time we embarked on an exercise like this and unfortunately it is taking longer than we expected.”

Niemand has defended his company against allegations from local residents with regard to damage that is allegedly caused by the trucks to roads and other infrastructure, saying that the company does pay a levy to the Randfontein Local Municipality toward the upkeep of local infrastructure.

With regard to allegations that the influx of truck drivers attract prostitutes to town, Niemand says that the company cannot be blamed for this.

“These truck drivers are in town to make deliveries only.

“They are independant transport contractors and we do not have any control over them outside of the workplace.”

Niemand was adamant that the company insists that all their service providers comply with all traffic laws and bylaws while they are in town.

“It is regrettable that there are these rumours about prostitutes flocking here as a result of all the truck drivers.

“If the rumours are true, these things happen outside of work hours and they definitely do not occur on company property and we have no control over it.

“We urge residents to report these matters to the police.”

Niemand has assured the community that approximately 88 percent of the planned deliveries already have been made and that things will return to normal within a few weeks.