Two suspects are expected to appear in the Vrede Magistrate’s Court following a blockade on the N3 highway near Villiers in the Free State, which brought traffic to a standstill for several hours.
According to police spokesperson Sergeant Mmako Mophiring, the men, aged 52 and 68, were arrested at the scene on charges of common robbery. Preliminary investigations revealed that a group of individuals had stopped several trucks and forcibly removed the keys from foreign national drivers.
“It is alleged that the group accused the drivers of taking their jobs,” Mophiring said. He added that five foreign drivers reported having their cellphones taken during the incident.
The blockade, which severely disrupted traffic on one of South Africa’s busiest freight corridors, lasted approximately four hours. The road was eventually reopened thanks to a coordinated effort by law enforcement, private security firms, and road management services.
Authorities are continuing their investigation into the incident, which has raised renewed concerns over xenophobic tensions in the transport sector.