BY REX MPHISA SOUTH African taxi operators have blocked the Beitbridge-Musina road protesting over alleged failure by the South African Police Service (SAPS) to arrest armed robbers terrorising motorists along the highway.
Limpopo province SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo was yet to respond to NewsDay questions at the time of going to print.
But NewsDay is in possession of a traffic alert statement issued on August 23, 2022 by the South African department of Transport and Community Safety about the road blockage.
The statement was titled Traffic obstruction on the N1 North towards Beitbridge.
“Our law enforcement officers and other relevant stakeholders have been dispatched to attend to the matter. We urge motorists to exercise patience as we attend to this,” the department said.
The traffic blockage was just a kilometre from the border post after a police checkpoint and a government weighbridge for haulage trucks.
It is understood that the protesters want all police commanders in Musina and at the border transferred for failure to protect their clients.
“People going to Musina who give us business are attacked daily by robbers who live in the bush, and police have not accounted for any. The commanders are not in charge and they should go,” said one of the protesters.
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“People are robbed daily and not a single arrest has been made. What are they here for? We are losing business. Even in Musina, businesses are being robbed.”
A Cross-border transporter from Dulivhadzimo in Beitbridge told NewsDay: “Several people have been robbed, and at times they have been injured by the gangs which appear from the bush. They force taxis off the road to rob passengers.”
