Online Reporter
Fatima Bulla-Musakwa
12 May, 2026, will forever be etched in Mr Kennedy Mupfururi’s mind as the day his heart was ripped apart, never to be mended completely again.
He woke up early morning thinking that the day would unfold as usual.
His day always started with him taking his students for driving lessons that started at 6.30am.
His brother Regis also did the same.
From Zengeza, they would go to their workplace together.
But on this day, they had gone to work coming from different locations, and the routine would forever be altered.
Moments after he arrived at his work place with his mind set on the programme of the day, Mr Mupfururi received a phone call from a workmate.
Bearing bad news, the caller notified him that his brother, Regis, had been involved in an accident. According to the caller’s sentiments on the outlook of the accident, things were not looking good.
The two brothers had started working together as far back as 1995.
Upon arrival at the accident scene – the intersection of Rekai Tangwena and Belvedere Road – Mr Mupfururi was informed that his brother had been rushed to Sally Mugabe Hospital.
Regis had sustained two broken ribs that pierced a part of his liver and diaphragm, making it difficult for him to breathe.
He was pronounced dead at Sally Mugabe Hospital, and he left behind three children and a wife.
His parents were also under his care.
Mr Mupfururi was devastated.
“My brother was a bread winner to his wife and children as well as our father, I feel if justice is to be served, something must be done about reckless driving. The car was the source of income for his family and now its gone,” he said.
According to statistics, for the first six months of each of the past five years, accidents have been on the increase, with learners and their instructors increasingly facing risk.
While the road rules call for drivers to exercise caution when there is a vehicle displaying an L plate signaling that the individual on the wheel is under instruction, the growing trend has been the opposite.
Hooting, shouting and cutting across vehicles driven by learners has become the order of the day.
“There must be a law that if somebody disturbs a learner or hoots at a learner, they must be arrested,” Mr Mupfururi said.
In recent years, Government has been working on installing cameras at various traffic lights to curb incidences of drivers speeding through red lights.
Breathalyzers have been introduced to check on drivers who drink and drive.
With the Zimbabwe Republic Police also introducing motor cycles to be used in traffic enforcement and patrols, this could curb misconduct perpetrated against learner drivers and their instructors.
Mr Cyprian Maseka, chairperson of the Harare Driving Schools Instructors Association lamented the risks learner drivers endure on the roads.
“Drivers are not respecting learners on the roads, they must exercise extreme caution,” he said.
The association claims that they encounter at least 10 hit and run cases with pirate taxis and commuter omnibuses, with the cases going unreported.
There are growing calls for authorities to ensure that new drivers go through the defensive driving course.
“There is no one measure but a combination of all measures put together for us to win this battle against road carnage, and that’s the way forward,” TSCZ Managing Director, Mr Munesu Munodawafa said.
