Kombis, council lose millions

They have daily targets, which the workers should remit.
Anything above the target is channelled to the proxies.
The Herald traced the operations of the group and established that members pocket an average of US$1 000 each per day.

The visited ranks are Fourth Street, Charge Office, Copacabana and Market Square.
A “boss” of the crew, sources said, lives in Warren Park and operates a fleet of kombis reportedly acquired from proceeds of the illegal trade.
Below him are rank heads with names like Funny, Murehwa and Simba at the Fourth Street Bus Terminus.

The three have also bought kombis and properties in suburbs like Westgate. At Charge Office, Market Square and Copacabana, the situation is the same.
Other names of the Mandimbandimba were given as Mix and Maskiri.
Kombi drivers said they were reluctant to pay, but the fear of being driven out of business forced them to comply.

“We have no choice but to pay. It pains to just pay another man for no service. After all, they have their own kombis which do not queue like the rest,” said one of the drivers.

Indeed, a fleet of kombis soon arrived and in no time left fully packed, while others queued to load.
“That is a Ndimbandimba kombi mukoma. It just comes and fills and no one raises a finger.”
A driver at Charge Office, who plies the City-Chitungwiza route, said rank marshals made more money than kombi operators.

“These rank marshals collect as much as US$10 per day from every kombi,” he said.
He named rank marshals like Kodza and Ngoni.
“These two are in charge here and they come in a taxi around 2pm . . . you can come back and see them,” said the driver.

He said he makes an average of nine trips per day and every trip he has to part with US$1.
Another driver at Market Square said the “unruly thugs who even threaten to beat you up and ban you from operating from their rank” were ripping off kombi crews.

“If you don’t pay, you don’t operate here so we just have to comply,” he said.
“We would have wanted a situation where we pay to the city council not individuals who are pocketing the money. Some have even built houses and bought fleets of commuter omnibuses,” he said.

“Mshika shika”, which refers to pick up and drop off points, are also controlled by the Mandimbandimba.
“Funny collects cash from all the mshika shikas along Robert Mugabe Road,” said one of the drivers.
Bus crews said this practice was corrupt and should be stopped forthwith.

“This has been going on and people have enriched themselves instead of council getting revenue,” he said.
Bus crews said they were operating in fear as they were being victimised by these rank marshals if they failed to comply.
“They have become law unto themselves. They can beat you up and nothing happens,” said one conductor.

In this game, council is one of the biggest losers.
There are 6 000 kombis and among them, only 2 100 are registered.
Out of the registered kombis, 45 percent have renewed their operating permits.

If all the 6 000 kombis register with council and pay the registration fee of US$100, the city will get US$600 000 per year.
This figure does not include rank discs paid on a quarterly basis to the city.
Council spokesperson Mr Leslie Gwindi said the council’s operations, among them, the ongoing demolition of illegal car sales, were part of efforts to restore sanity in the city.

“What we are doing is part of efforts to clean the city.  We are moving into that area soon because we cannot have two councils in one city. There is already an operation to decongest the city,” he said.
The city is in the process of removing all kombis from the city centre and keeping them at the Coventry Road holding bays.

This means only kombis ready to load will be allowed in the city.
Only three kombis will be allowed in the rank per route.

Harare provincial police spokesman Chief Inspector James Sabau said they did not interfere because it was the bus operators who invited the marshals.
“When there are problems, we will just arrest and fine the marshals and release them. They should find a way of dealing with their rank marshals,” he said.
Council officials said they were compiling statistics to establish how much they were losing to the marshals.
Zanu-PF secretary for administration Cde Didymus Mutasa convened an emergency meeting yesterday to discuss law and order.

This follows a shooting incident in which some party officials are being implicated.