The below statement has been issued after kombi owners complained describing as “nonsense” and “childish” the move by Harare City Council to remove kombis from the CBD:
PASSENGERS ASSOCIATION OF ZIMBABWE OBJECTS TO PREMATURE BARING OF COMMUTER OMNIBUSES (KOMBIS) TO ENTER CBD.
The Passengers Association of Zimbabwe strongly condemns the unilateral decision taken by the City of Harare to bar commuter omnibuses from entering the CBD.
1. Whilst PAZ supports initiatives to decongest the City we strongly feel that this decision was taken without proper consultation and implemented in a hasty manner. No proper notices were made.
2. This decision greatly affects workers and all commuters at large. They now have to fork out an extra 30c per trip on bus fares which are already overcharged. Consequently, a number of commuters are likely to walk long distances from drop-off points to their work places, greatly affecting productivity and in turn economic recovery. It also exposes them to criminals, especially during the night. Why should commuters pay for the council’s lack of proper planning.
3. This decision is going to promote mishika-shika (pirate taxis) and a number of commutters are going to prefer the use of private vehicles as these can take them in and out of the CBD. Use of pirate taxis and private vehicles exposes commutters to robberies and in the event of an accident they will not be covered by passenger insurance.
4. Construction of facilities at these sites is not complete. A good example is the Coca Cola station. Tar was only put a few days ago on a small patch. The larger part is still muddy and under construction. We are in the middle of the rainy season but there are no shelters at these points. That’s gross violation of commuters’ rights.
4. We also hear that there will be shuttle buses. Whose shuttle buses? Who did the selection of those shuttle buses operators, and what criteria were used to select the shuttle services providers? We smell corruption here. Why does the council think these shuttle buses will not congest the city, as they will be carrying the same number of passengers from drop-off points to CBD?
5. We urge the Government of Zimbabwe to protect its citizens’ rights and immediately stop this ill-conceived decision and madness by the City of Harare. We also urge the government to start working on revival of the public transport system as a long term solution to these challenges.
6. We urge the City of Harare to first put up proper infrastructure at these stations before forcing commuters to use them. We demand proper terminus shelters. We also urge the council to fully consult before taking hasteydecisions. Poor planning by the council has seen our city’s standards falling daily.
7. We urge the Zimbabwe Repulic Police to protect its image and not be used by the City of Harare to enforce this poorly conceived program. The police force must not be used to wipe City of Harare’s mess at the expense of its integrity.
8. Unless and until our demands are met, we urge commuters and commuter omnibuses to defy this directive. As the government is urging, let’s reconstruct Zimbabwe, let’s re-engage each other, let’s work for the betterment of our people not our pockets.