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Gladmore Ncube, Sunday News Correspondent
THERE is a growing outcry from members of the public on the need to protect travellers against rowdy touts that operate buses along the country’s main highways.
Public vehicle drivers and operators have joined in to support the call for Government and relevant authorities to act upon the touts’ menace as it has an impact on road safety.
Observations and testimonies by drivers and passengers on the Harare-Bulawayo and Plumtree-Bulawayo highways are sad encounters of how road trips can turn out to be nightmares.
It is the touts’ violent approach and near neglect of human rights and social safety that irks road users. While the Zimbabwe Republic Police and municipal police are doing repeated clampdowns on tout activities, not much has changed. The cat and mouse game continues unabated, exposing road users to untold psychological suffering.
What stands out as these touts do their illegal act is that they drink alcohol and take drugs in full sight of the travelling public. Worrisome is the trend that some public vehicle drivers join in to share alcohol with touts. It is at this point that driver behaviour changes.
This is at its peak during holidays, in particular school retreats in the months of April, August and December.
According to the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ), there is no denying that violent touts cause pain on travellers, a situation that greatly impacts on how well passengers interact with drivers. The TSCZ believes some road rage incidents emanate from crude encounters that drivers and passengers have with touts at given points of the journey.
From yelling to name shouting and taking passengers’ luggage without their consent are some of the misgivings that lead to unpleasant journeys. Touts go on to ill-treat passengers and sometimes steal their belongings while badgering them to board some buses of their choice.
Touts at most, are working for certain pirate vehicles that ply the Harare-Bulawayo route. TSCZ’s head of communication Mr Tatenda Chinoda said touts were a major contributor to psychological trauma faced by drivers and other road users.
“Impact of these touts has greatly disturbed the peace of mind of travellers and at times drivers of passenger vehicles, even private cars. It is no wonder you meet drivers and passengers who are frustrated and unhappy. Surprisingly there are drivers who work in cahoots with touts and drink together.
“We as the Traffic Safety Council are worried. Passengers are in most cases abused when they get to the highways. We carry out periodic awareness programmes to teach people how to use the road with the view of making sure that both traffic and other road users know of safety,” he said.
Often, added Chinoda, violent behaviour by touts contributes to an extent to how drivers and passengers conduct themselves afterwards.
In interviews on the popular passenger pickup points at Plumtree road’s Bellevue shops and at Harare road, most travellers said whenever touts are in their worst frame of behaviour, the journey has always been dreadful.
A vendor who travels to Harare about twice a week, Mr Tinotenda Moyo confirmed that the touts were always drinking and treating travellers like total fools who do not know where they are going.
“I board buses to Harare always scared that when I get to Harare road I will get some rude awakening from touts. They do not care what bus drivers think of it too. They grab our bags and force us to board certain vehicles of their choice.
“But we know that some drivers and conductors drink alcohol with touts. We have seen that afterwards drivers will be speeding. When we complain they treat you like a backseat driver, all they say is that we want to arrive in time leaving aside safety of the passengers,” said Mr Moyo.
He continued saying they report cases of harassment to the police several times but they feel like they have been barking up the wrong tree.
“Nothing changes if we report to the police. Only for a day or two touts are dispersed but before the week is over, they resurface.”
Other passengers who spoke on condition of anonymity stated that while touts were violent, they have a cunning way of making travellers abide.
“When you refuse to get in the car or bus they want you to, then you are in for it. If you stand your ground make sure you can defend yourself or you better run for dear life,” he said.
At the Bellevue shops, the story reads the same.
A local city man who resides at Mbundane suburb Mr Christopher Chuma told a story of how touts caused him to be involved in an accident.
“I was driving my van from town when I saw my nephew who was also going to Mbundane on the roadside. When I pulled over to give him a ride, touts holding bottles with alcoholic stuff ran to the young man and forcibly took his bags and warned him that if he doesn’t listen to them he will bring trouble upon himself.
“As I made a decision to reverse my van two kombis blocked my way on instruction of the touts. I bumped into the kombi at the back. I panicked as they continued to yell and whistle. They did not let me go with my nephew, insisting I was interfering in their territory,” said Chuma.
This is the situation in most roads countrywide although Mr Chinoda argued that in order for passengers to be safe, they must desist from unsafe hitchhiking.
“Touts operate in undesignated areas and work for drivers whose vehicles are not roadworthy. Let us shun this practice and start practicing safety,” he said.
65-year-old Gogo Ndiweni complained of touts commonly known as owindi in the city, that they always shout obscenities.
“I worry about these touts because they fuel road rage, make passengers their pedestal to do all sorts of bad things. They shout insults. Surely are our roads safe with these boys around? Not at all.”
She added: “Kombi drivers hire touts and pretend they care for us when all they want is money.”
Mr Chinoda said it all bows down to morality and adherence to road safety.
“We cannot separate road safety and passenger safety. People should shun these touts. Passengers lose their valuables because of touts who grab their bags forcibly. This makes the travellers lose focus. They won’t be able to tell a driver to stop speeding because they will be stressed from the onset. Travelling must be pleasant, not worrisome and stressful,” Mr Chinoda said.
He added, TSCZ is lobbying ZRP and key stakeholders like the Passenger Association of Zimbabwe and vehicle owners to help bring a lasting solution to the touts menace.
“An action plan to get rid of touts is needed. Touts cause high stress and panic. This has been noticed. These touts should be removed because we do not want a situation whereby we lose lives due to panic attacks caused by these touts like incidents that happen in Harare on a daily basis. When somebody leaves their house they will be surely certain about where they are going and what kind of transport they want to use. Let us call a red card on touts and bring sanity to our roads.”
Online Reporter