THE announcement by the Department of Transport, that they will host the first ever Truck Driver wellness safety symposium has been welcomed as an act which pushes the movers of goods up to the level they deserve.
The mostly male drivers and organisations who look after transit groups, say their job has been sidelined for too long.
“The economy would be at a standstill without them as they were not included in everyday mainstream thought, economy and programmes. This is the sector responsible for ensuring that goods are available across the country, and so they deserve a bit more respect,” said People Upliftment NPO worker Henry Mathonsi.
He said the sector faced major obstacles – including sickness and death, daily. “Not only are the roads they travel long and lonely, their healthcare is largely ignored, both by truck owners, truckers themselves, and the government.”
His organisations is among those that conduct health checks, provide condoms, medication, information and raise awareness among transit groups, including truckers, as they, he said, were kept on the margins of society.
They also ensured the mostly men sector understood the dangers of unhealthy habits, eating, developing high blood pressure and diabetes, and the dangers of sitting for hours as they drove their vehicles across country.
Said freight truck driver Philani Sathekga ahead of the symposium to be hosted in Ekurhuleni: “When one drives goods from one city to the other, one province to the next, at the pace that we normally do because, well, we carry heavy loads and our vehicles are massive, we are often seen as the lowliest of the population, mostly by other drivers on the road.”
They received what he said was little or no love and attention from anyone, especially the government. “We are also under heavy threat from highway robbers and hijackers; because of loneliness we tend to pick up every sexual diseases known to infect people; and we suffer fatigue, sleep uncomfortably and in unfamiliar places as we push the job.”
As such the symposium, if it addressed all their issues, was perfect as, he and others pointed out, no food, no goods, and no services produced in one area or country could be made available to another without them in this era of goods trains being done away with.
The symposium will be held at the Birchwood Hotel from Wednesday to Friday, under the theme “Your Safety and Wellness Is Our Concern.”
To be launched by transport minister Sindisiwe Chikunga, it will, among other things “dive into groundbreaking research with SaferStops, and unveil insights from 1500 truckers, spotlighting their top needs and desires at truck stops”, the department said.