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• December 28, 2011
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Transport operators risk losing licences

By Pamela Shumba
TRANSPORT operators who take advantage of increased demand for transport during public holidays to hike fares risk losing their licences, Secretary for Transport, Communications and Infrastructural Development, Mr Patson Mbiriri said yesterday.

Mr Mbiriri’s warning follows reports that some transport operators more than doubled fares  during the run up to the just-ended Christmas holidays taking advantage of the high demand for transport.
Buses and kombis were charging more than $10 for a trip from Bulawyo to Gweru which is supposed to be $5 or less and for a trip from Bulawayo to Harare which normally costs $12, operators were demanding as much as $20 or more. The same scenario prevailed on most routes where demand for transport was high.
Mr Mbiriri advised travellers to report to the police or his ministry operators that hiked fares during public holidays.

“Just before the holidays we advised the travelling public to report operators that took advantage of high demand to increase fares to either the police or my ministry.
“We also warned operators that they risked losing their licences if they fleeced travellers through hiking fares,” said Mr Mbiriri.
He said in a bid to protect the people using public transport, his ministry once mooted the idea of gazetting fares but the Attorney General’s Office had reservations on the move.

Mr Mbiriri said if the transport operators continue to defy the Government directive not to increase fares especially during public holidays, his ministry will be left with no option but to control the fares through a Statutory Instrument.

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• December 28, 2011
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Zanu-PF offices bombed

Midlands Correspondent
ZANU-PF’s provincial offices for Midlands were yesterday morning bombed by unknown assailants.
The party’s top officials in the province suspect that the bombing was politically motivated.

Midlands police spokesperson Inspector Patrick Chademana said they suspected that the bombings took place at about 12.30 am.
He said the explosion left several windowpanes at the Zanu-PF offices and other nearby buildings shattered.
When a Chronicle news team arrived at the scene along Seventh Street at about 8am, police were busy going through the debris as they sought to find leads.

“Our investigations are still under way and no arrests have been made so far. I can only confirm that there was an explosion at the Zanu-PF offices at about midnight today (yesterday). We have called in the police forensic team to assist us with our investigations,” he said.
Some armed police officers and members of the Zimbabwe National Army were deployed at the scene to beef up security.

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• December 28, 2011
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Human, vehicular traffic volume increases at Beitbridge

By Mashudu Netsianda
BEITBRIDGE Border Post this year recorded a sharp increase in the number of travellers during the festive season with statistics indicating that 51 601 people passed through the port of entry between Christmas Day and Tuesday compared to 18 222 during the same period last year.

In an interview yesterday, the assistant regional immigration manager in charge of Beitbridge Border Post, Mr Charles Gwede, said they handled the highest number of travellers on the           entry side on Christmas Day when 12 594 people entered the country.
“This year we handled an increase in the volume of both human and vehicular traffic during the festive season compared to last year.

“Most of the travellers that we handled were Zimbabweans working in South Africa who were coming home for the Christmas festivities with statistics showing that we received 35 077 people between Christmas Day and Tuesday on the entry side alone, a sharp increase compared to 9 725 during the same period last year,” he said.
On the departure side, immigration authorities handled 16 524 travellers compared to 8 497 during the same period last year.

Mr Gwede attributed the increase in the number of travellers to the South African documentation exercise, which saw many Zimbabweans working in the neighbouring country commonly known as injiva acquiring permits.

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• December 28, 2011
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Government challenged to revive agriculture

By Venencia Badza
THE Government has been challenged to come up with     strategies to revive the agricultural industry as a means of doing away with the dumping of cheap commodities in the country by foreign competitors.
For the past four years, Zimbabwe has been heavily relying on imports as the local economy was failing to sustain its populace.