adminBlessings Chidakwa Municipal Correspondent
Commuter omnibus terminuses in Harare are in a sorry state due to years of neglect, despite the fact that the city council collects parking revenue from transport operators on a daily basis.
The city has five terminuses —Market Square, Copacabana, Simon Muzenda Street (formerly Fourth Street), Charge Office and Rezende Street.
Most of these terminuses do not have roofs on the waiting sheds and properly functioning toilets.
At Copacabana, there is virtually no sign of the shelters that used to protect commuters from the sun or rain, while at Simon Muzenda there is a few shelters with roofs.
Other shelters at Simon Muzenda do have roofs resting on rusting steel frames.
At Market Square, some of the shelters have been invaded by traders who are now using them to display their wares.
Mbare Musika Bus Terminus, probably the biggest in Zimbabwe, has not been spared the rot.
The few shelters still standing have been stripped of their roofs, while metal bars that used to hold them together are falling apart.
In the morning and evening peak hours, the terminuses are always congested with kombis and passengers.
The situation gets so bad at times loaded kombis struggle to navigate their way out of the ranks.
Commuter omnibus operators are demanding that Harare City Council provides services that are commensurate with the rates they pay.
Council hiked entry fees to the ranks to $25 this year, from $10 last year, in the approved 2020 budget for the city.
Route permits and rank discs have both remained unchanged this year at $1 000 per annum.
Commuter omnibus operators believe the fees they are levied are enough to give a fresh look to terminuses.
Apart from the decaying infrastructure, rowdy touts continue to be a menace, while municipal police officers are nowhere near to enforce order at the terminus.
Greater Harare Association of Commuter Omnibus Operators secretary- general Mr Ngoni Katsvairo said they were not getting value for their money.
“We are not getting any services at ranks at all, just look at their state, the toilets and garbage collection,” he said. “Touts are a menace even in ranks where they extort money from our drivers, but council police are not doing as much as they do when removing vendors.”
Mr Katsvairo challenged council to scrap the route application fee, which he said was a duplication as they were required under the Road Traffic Act to apply for a route permit at the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development.
He feels the double payment was against the spirit of reducing the cost and enhancing the ease of doing business which is being championed by the Government.
Harare City spokesperson Mr Michael Chideme said the operators’ concerns were genuine..
“We have always called for stakeholder participation and response to bringing sanity in the city,” he said. “We continue with our engagement efforts to rid all market places of vice and unsanctioned activities.”
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