Online Reporter
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu [email protected]
GWANDA is tightening the screws, even after sundown!
As moonlight vending and underground taxi ops spread across the town, Gwanda Municipality has launched after-dark patrols to bring rogue operators to heel.
Town Clerk Ms Priscillah Nkala in a public notice, warned that the days, and now nights, of dodging council bylaws are over.
“We’re enforcing bylaws after hours — order must prevail!” she declared.
Vendors and pirate taxi drivers have been creeping into the night to avoid detection, popping up in illegal spots to hustle unbothered. But now the municipal police are patrolling under the cover of darkness, armed with bylaw books and penalty slips.
The price of breaking the rules?
* Vending fees: US$1
* Selling dodgy food (meat, chips, etc): US$3
* Tuckshop fines: US$3
* Local kombis: US$1 per trip
* Out-of-town kombis: One passenger fare per trip
Nkala says it’s not just about fees — the aftermath of illegal night activity is leaving Gwanda a mess, with uncollected garbage, clogged drains, and battered infrastructure.
“The town suffers — and someone has to pay,” she added.
With night patrols now in full swing, Gwanda’s twilight hustlers may need to rethink their game or risk coughing up cold hard cash.
