The Sunday News
Robin Muchet, Senior Reporter
TRANSPORT operators in Bulawayo are lobbying the Parliament to pass an Act that gives them the power to monitor the transport sector as a way of dealing with the proliferation of pirate taxis in urban areas.
The operators noted that this was the only way to deal with the problems as responsible authorities such as city councils and the police seem to have failed.
In an interview, Bulawayo Public Transport Association (Bupta) administration director Mr Albert Ncube said legally registered transport operators were feeling let down by authorities that are failing to stop pirate taxis from grabbing their businesses.
“Self policing is what we are calling for, if the authorised operators patrol their areas they can identify “poachers” and once they are indentified they are brought to book,” he said.
Mr Ncube said the policy has worked in South Africa and can also work in Zimbabwe.
“In South Africa, operators were given the green light and it is working well. The operators patrol their routes and if any operator is found operating illegally, their vehicles will be impounded and they will have to pay a fine to the ‘owners’ of the route,” he said.
This, he added, has brought sanity to the transport system as the perpetrators know that they would be arrested for pirating and not being in possession of the necessary documents to ply the routes. Mr Ncube said they once approached the Parliamentary Portfolio on Transport and Infrastructure with their request.
“We tried to get permission via other transport operators in Harare but they never followed through and we were not successful. But we have started again, it is not new to the Parliament, we have informed them.
“We hope the proposal will be looked into and we are confident they will grant us the right to protect our business,” he said.
Mr Ncube said transporters have lost a lot of business to pirate taxis who are, however, not paying any statutory obligations.
There have also been an increase in cases of robbery in Bulawayo involving pirate taxis especially at night.
Police in Bulawayo have constantly warned people against boarding the pirate taxis following a spate of crimes involving the cars over the last months.
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