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Government has issued a warning to truck drivers planning to conduct a protest next week over alleged denial of access to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to be ready for severe sanctions.
Commerce Trade and Industry Minister, Chipoka Mulenga, said government was aware that truck drivers from the Southern African and Development Community (SADC) were planning a protest on August 15 on the Zambian side.
Mulenga in an interview with Zambia Monitor, therefore, warned the truckers that the law enforcement agencies would deal with them accordingly.
Read more: Truck drivers threaten to halt operations, give DRC three weeks ultimate to improve security
“The truckers from other countries who want to protest in Zambia because they cannot access the Democratic Republic of Congo are breaking the law and enforcement agencies should move in.
“The problem was not with the Zambian government but in the past the DRC customs officers had gone on strike for four months for not being paid and it took the head of state to intervene in the matter. I just want to tell the drivers not to do it in our country because they are going to face the wrath of the law,” he said.
The minister urged the SADC drivers to protest in their respective countries and not in Zambia because the country was not the one with the problem.
Mulenga explained that government had earlier allowed them to protest because they were under pressure due to traffic but this would not happen now.
He said that he had engaged his counterparts from the respective countries to urge their drivers not to protest in Zambia because government would not allow the protests.
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