Chronicle Editor
Raymond Jaravaza, [email protected]
IT’S still business as usual at the illegal pirate taxi rank that was allegedly under the control of musclemen and former nightclub bouncers, the late Stewart ‘‘Shutto’’ Chiweshe and young brother Ashley Chiweshe who succumbed to injuries sustained in a car crash on November 9.
The Chiweshe brothers perished in the accident just a few kilometres from Plumtree town and were buried at Luveve Cemetery in Bulawayo last Thursday.
Shutto’s close associate, Tinashe ‘‘Mhofu’’ Marima, was reportedly attending a family member’s graduation in Plumtree at the time of the brothers’ deaths.
The two bouncers were known as the muscle behind the notorious pirate taxi rank at Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Street and 3rd Avenue, which services routes to North End, Sauerstown, Queens Park and Kingsdale.
Marima refused to comment on the operations of the illegal rank. “I don’t want to talk about that,” said Marima in a curt response before terminating the call when Chronicle reached him for comment.
Although Marima flatly declined to comment, several pirate taxi drivers stated that nothing had changed at the rank since Shutto’s death.
“Nothing has really changed even after the death of Shutto. Each driver is still expected to pay US$2 in the morning and small charges to rank marshals before making a trip. Mhofu is still in charge and the rules of the taxi rank have not changed,” said a driver who declined to be named for fear of reprisals.
It has been noted by a Chronicle news crew that the illegal pirate taxi rank has carried on with its operations in a routine manner, picking up and dropping off passengers between the northern suburbs in the past 48 hours.
This taxi rank is just one of many that have popped up on various street corners in the Bulawayo city centre. Last month, law enforcement confiscated over 30 vehicles in a bid to eradicate pirate taxis from the city.
Bulawayo provincial police spokesperson, Inspector Abednico Ncube, declared that they would persist in their pursuit to eliminate illegal activities from the streets.
“I don’t think the death of Shutto will result in the closure of the taxi rank. Over 50 vehicles operate here, which means a lot of drivers, touts and rank marshals feed their families through working here,” said a pirate taxi driver.
“All the taxi ranks you see around Bulawayo are controlled by someone, so there is nothing unique about 3rd Avenue being controlled by Tinashe and his friends.”
The late Shutto and Marima are not new to controversy. In 2015, the pair was sentenced to 18 months in prison after they had beaten up a Bulawayo commuter omnibus driver until he lost consciousness for allegedly “stealing” customers. The driver suffered a dislocated shoulder and head fracture.
Shutto was sentenced to 18 months of which six months were suspended on condition of good behaviour. He served a year in jail.
Marima was sentenced to 19 months in prison, of which 13 months were suspended on condition of good behaviour while a further six months were suspended on condition that he perform 220 hours of community service at Pumula Police Station.
The magistrate who sentenced them at the time noted that fights among touts over routes were a serious offence prevalent in the city.
Online Reporter