Staff Reporter
People from all walks of life have welcomed Government initiative to intensify its efforts of restoring sanity to the country’s roads through imposition of stiffer and prohibitive penalties against illegal transport operators (mushikashika) and their subsequent removal from the country’s roads.
This publication managed to speak to a few commuters as they waited for transport to ferry them back home.
“I personally support Government stance to remove those vehicles from the road. It was a scary feeling to travel in them especially for some of us who live in the outskirts of Harare, I live in Nyabira and so when all the other commuters have dropped off at their destinations and I am left alone in the car, prayer becomes my only salvation that I get home safely.
“Many of our sisters, mothers and daughters have been raped by some of these unregistered Mushikashika drivers. Government should continue with their operation until they all disappear from our roads” said Cynthia Moyo from Nyabira.
“It’s true one day I was robbed of all my groceries, money and cell phone while I was travelling in one of those vehicles to Mt Hampden, thank God I was not raped. People might be bickering right now that these Mushikashika have been taken off the road, but I feel it was only a matter of time they faced the same fate we did,” interrupted one Juliet Phakathi.
The operation follows a number of offenses these transport operators commit as they go about their business. They do not make an effort to meet the minimum requirement regulated by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, standard requirement by the Vehicle Inspection Department (VID) to warrant them to carry passengers, they are not licenced by Zimbabwe National Road Authority (ZINARA), they are not registered under the Central Vehicle Registry (CVR), hence most of them cannot be traced back to their owners.
Speaking to this publication, one member of the Zimbabwe Republic Police who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “These Mushikashika drivers are offenders of many road traffic regulations. Some of them drive unregistered vehicles; if they commit crimes it’s very difficult to trace them and to bring the culprits to book.
“You will find that they have no route authority which means they can operate from any part of the city. So it’s easy for them to commit a crime in the Domboshava route and immediately change their routes to Chitungwiza or Norton, just to avoid identification and arrest,” said the police officer.
Government has reassured public of a lasting and safe solution to their transport woes as it expects delivery of 50 new buses that are set to arrive from Durban this week. Harare is set to receive 15 buses, Bulawayo 11 and the rest will be shared equally among the smaller cities and towns.
Meanwhile, 667 buses are set to be delivered by year end with future plans of bringing in 1500 buses.
