Online Reporter
Arron Nyamayaro
A MAN, who uses a seven-seater Toyota Noah to run school run shuttles in Harare, has been arrested after he allegedly loaded 25 learners into his vehicle.
Amos Tavaziva, 39, was arrested on Thursday along the New Chitungwiza Road in Hopley as he was picking up learners for a school in Glen Norah.
On Friday, Tavaziva was taken to Mbare Magistrates’ Court, where he was charged under the Road Motor Transportation Act, Chapter 13:15, for carrying excess passengers.
He was fined US$90.
It’s the latest in a string of cases in which the lives of school kids have been put at risk by heartless individuals who are driven by a quest to make money at all cost.
In March, a kombi driver, who was arrested for overloading pupils during a school run, was sentenced to four months in prison.
He was given an alternative to pay a fine of US$400.
Kumbulani Tauzeni, 42, faced multiple charges, including operating without a valid defensive driving certificate.
He was also driving without a valid driver’s medical certificate issued by the General Medical Office (GMO) and carrying more passengers than those which his kombi should carry.
Tauzeni was found guilty on all counts at the Mbare Magistrates’ Court.
For failing to possess the necessary defensive driving and medical certificates, he was fined US$100 for each offence or faced 30 days of imprisonment for each.
For the charge of carrying excess passengers, including 35 pupils and three teachers, he was fined US$200 or he would serve an additional 60 days in jail.
He was arrested while operating an unroadworthy public service vehicle along Amalinda Road, en-route to a school in Glen Norah
Tauzeni has been conducting the school run from Fidelity to Kudakwashe Primary School in Glen Norah B.
In February this year, H-Metro established that EIGHTY passengers, including 77 pupils and three teachers, were packed into two 18-seater kombis, in a space of 11 days.
It led to the arrest of two drivers.
This meant that the two kombis were overloaded by a staggering 44 people, including 41 pupils.
On February 13, Minister of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training, Tino Machakaire, stopped a kombi which was packed with 42 pupils.
“Yesterday I stopped a kombi that ferries school children and what I saw honestly unsettled me,” he said in a statement on his social media platforms.
“It was carrying 42 learners in a vehicle meant for 13 passengers.
“Forty-two children, someone’s whole world, squeezed into one small kombi.
“All I could think about were the recent tragedies in South Africa, where school transport accidents have claimed the lives of more than 20 learners.
“Those are not just numbers. They are families changed forever. It made me wonder how easily that could happen to any of us. “
He added:
“What disturbed me even more was that the vehicle was almost allowed to leave a manned roadblock without consequence. From the outside, it already looked unroadworthy. You did not need to be an expert to see that something was not right.
“As parents, we trust that when our children leave home for school, they will return safely.
“As school authorities and law enforcement, there is a duty of care that cannot be taken lightly. This is not about blame. It is about responsibility. I do not have all the solutions, but I know we cannot normalise this.
We cannot look away. These are our children. Their safety is not negotiable.”
Minister Machakaire received widespread praise for his intervention.
