Imperial has halted operations in high-risk areas in South Africa, including KwaZulu-Natal and certain parts of Gauteng, following wide-spread looting, says corporate affairs and investor relations executive VP Esha Mansingh.

This was done to “ensure the safety of our drivers and employees, and to reduce the risk of any further harm to our people and assets”.

Since the start of the violent protests last week, some of Imperial’s truck drivers were subjected to “extremely violent tactics”, says Mansingh, including being held at gunpoint, so that rioters could use the group’s truck fleet to block highways in parts of KwaZulu-Natal. 

“We managed to get our impacted drivers to safety and they are now undergoing trauma counselling.”

Mansingh says some of the trucks in Imperial’s impacted fleet have already been recovered. 

“Unfortunately, however, one of our vehicles was destroyed and others were vandalised since the start of the protests.

‘We have since cleaned up impacted areas on the highways.”

Mansingh adds that rioters have attempted to enter and vandalise Imperial’s warehouses in Gauteng, prompting the logistics giant to increase security measures.

“We have dedicated teams that are monitoring the situation and we have put in place tighter security measures at our operations and warehouses in affected areas.”

Mansingh says it is important to note that the Imperial business transports “critical and essential medical supplies, in addition to other basic needs such as food” and that these operations have now been disrupted given the company’s “necessary decision” to halt operations on key affected routes.

“Our focus now is to ensure the safety of our people as priority and [to secure] our operations and assets. 

“It is not possible to quantify the direct and indirect impacts on the supply chain at this stage.”

Imperial’s businesses in the rest of Africa continue to operate interrupted.