adminTHE sky is deep blue and unclothed. Repressive heat from the sun takes advantage and pounces mercilessly and relentlessly on the vulnerable people. Blank gazes into the heavens draw a harvest of tons of desperation as the rains keep away from this place. Traders prance up and down — ‘‘dollar for two, bananas, dollar for four’’. Ear-piercing noise blares from a parked promotional Pick ’n Pay truck and adds a spooky ambience to this place which is a hive of activity. “Sixty, Gwabalanda!” screams a young man, his face hardly visible under a floppy hat. He is delicately perched on a steel rail that carries iron sheets that provide a shade for commuters. A long winding queue of empty gold and white commuter omnibuses slowly snakes its way towards the bay where the screaming man is perched.
This is a scene at Bulawayo’s ‘‘Hyper’’ between Herbert Chitepo and Fort streets just before noon. There are few commuter omnibuses at this time of day. Commuter bus drivers and their touts are idling around. I have come here to board one of the commuters plying the ‘‘Hyper-Gwabalanda’’ route. The commuter omnibus, also known as a kombi, is a 14-seater Toyota Hiace. Behind the wheel is Walter Sibanda popularly known as Mphini and his conductor Arnold Chikowore. Their commuter omnibus is one of several belonging to the Tshova Mubaiwa Co-op (Ltd).
I am not going home yet but I have come to board this particular commuter omnibus in order to learn more about their business, but in particular, the names of stops along the route. For 10 months now I have been using commuter omnibuses and the names of these stops never cease to tickle my heart. There is clear innovativeness and lingual dexterity. Here all the stops are pulled to communicate with the commuters. Not so long ago one expression used here found its way to a Grade 7 end of year examination question paper. There was real war from the speakers of the SiNdebele language.
It will take Mphini’s kombi about one-and-a-half hours to start loading. The last two weeks of the month are sluggish in business terms. Besides, this is an off-peak period. The mornings are better and the commuter crew is on the road as early as 4am. They normally do five trips before things slow down after 9.00 am. This is the time to queue, wait and chat and attend to minor faults in the car.
The crew knows who its customers are at each time of day. The earliest commuters at 4.00am are elderly people going to Ceragem for physiotherapy. There are others too who are infirm and they too need physiotherapy. It is not that they are going to be attended to that early. They are going to secure their positions in the queue. The other early risers are women going to the vegetable market. These are women from the townships who will bring their merchandise to sell at various designated and undesignated sites in the western suburbs. Then the other early commuters are the sisters wearing mini-skirts, izigcebhezana. These are returning from nightclubs where they operate night shifts, peddling sweet business. Inevitably, the sisters will be dead drunk and spend the day sleeping only to resume the professional activities after the watchful sun has bowed down.
The next group is that of persons visiting sick relatives in hospitals. They are identifiable through the scoff tins that they clutch in their hands. They are taking food to hospitalised relatives. Next to board the commuter omnibuses are school pupils and college students who attend schools and colleges in the eastern suburbs such as Milton, Gifford, Evelyn, Hillside, Coghlan and Mahatshula, among others. Chikowore is quick to point out that these pupils prefer to board the buses that play loud music. Tshova Mubaiwa is under strict instructions to observe low levels when playing music. They lose out on account of the prohibition.
Workers and job seekers board the buses at around 7.00am. Once this group is finished there is a general lull. This is particularly the case now when the economic situation is difficult. There are few persons travelling to town after the peak hour to do some shopping. This is the case till about 1.00pm when some school pupils begin their return journey.
Finally, we get to the loading bay and we are ready to start the outward journey to Gwabalanda, an unofficial name for Luveve Township named after Lt Col Carbutt (uKhabothi as the Ndebele called him) who was Native Commissioner and later Chief Native Commissioner in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He came from Zululand where they called him Nomvemve. The township has burgeoned from its small village beginnings way back in 1936. I have observed that the names of bus stops derive from prominent physical landforms, architectural peculiarities, road traffic regulation signs, road junctions and prominent shopping centres. Some names along the route are historical. The route goes past locations such as Makokoba, Nguboyenja, Matshobana, Entumbane, Njube, Emakhandeni, Lobengula and finally Gwabalanda.
Half the journey is through old townships with stops that date back to the days of the Rhodesia Omnibus Company (ROC) which in the post-independence period became the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (Zupco). Some of the stops have retained their names to this day. It is the stops in the newer settlements where there is creativity in naming. We intend to start where there are these new stops established close to each other in the era of the commuter omnibuses after Zupco began a steady slide towards a near extinct fleet. Beyond the intersection of Siye Pambili and Luveve roads the creativity that drew my attention starts.
The first stop is Emathayeni. Here there are second- hand tyres on sale. Some customers buy these for their scotch carts back in the rural areas while those suffocating under a harsh economy buy them for their cars. Beyond this point the commuter omnibus gets to Esabatheni. Here there is a yet to be completed Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church building. The SDAChurch is known as Isabatha in SiNdebele. The next stop is Lobengula Turn (it’s pronounced as if it is spelt Ten). It’s actually a T-junction where a road to Lobengula Township branches off.
From here we get to Zebra Crossing. This is reference to traffic control markings meant to allow pedestrians to cross the road with ease. Of course you dare not cross when there is a commuter bus approaching at the speed of a cyclone. You may end up painting the section of the road with a red paint gushing out of your arteries and veins. The zebra lines themselves have long disappeared but the name lives on.
Now we get to a stop called Emadundulwini. Idundulu refers to a heap of earth or some other material. In this particular instance amadundulu refer to earth heaps that were left standing close to the road. There may have been forgotten there after completion of road works. By the way, the road to Gwabalanda is well surfaced, courtesy of Engineer Simela Dube and team of the Bulawayo City Council’s Engineering Department.
The next stop is West Turn. Here there is a T-junction where a road to Lobengula West branches off. It’s now one stop after another and we get to Emastepsini where there is a flight of concrete staircase. They will also refer to the stop as Ebhasi stopu, the bus stop. Some call it iStopu bhasi. The Ndebele have this rather hilarious habit of reversing the order of English words. They refer to ibhesini shuga (sugar basin) and amashitibheda (bed sheets).
We did point out at the beginning that the young man was shouting ‘‘Sixty, Gwabalanda’’. Here there is a regulation traffic control sign. Drivers are required not to drive at the speed of more than 60 kilometers per hour. The sign is of course routinely and brazenly ignored though it carries images of crossing school pupils, going to and coming from Inzwananzi Primary School. Sometimes they will refer to this stop as Ebantwaneni because of the images of school pupils. The last stop on this stretch is an old bus stop that has retained its name. Beyond it the road is called Intemba and the commuter omnibuses turn left and stop KoMaplanka where there is a business centre named after one of the entrepreneurs going by the surname Maplanka.
The next stop is the latest addition — Grassroots, a Fifa soccer establishment built by Methembe Ndlovu. Next comes a stop known as Dollar House. There was once upon a time a competition where the house owner won the house when he bought a ticket for a dollar. The next stop is Steel House, so named because the house has a steel frame as its roof.
A bus stop that comes next also goes by the name Amakhosi the name of the soccer field adjacent to the road. Where the road ends there is the J Themba Turn off. A rusty sign post announces the presence of a bottle store that sells ice-cold beer whose owner is Jonathan Themba Mhlanga. This section of the Luveve Road is well done save for the missing road markings.
Emkotweni, an alley, is the next stop followed by Mlingo (Road) and Emaphowulwini. Commuters observed the stout pillars supporting electricity poles — a near harvest of poles. The road proceeds to the Luveve Cemetery but the kombis turn right towards Masina Beer Garden. The last stop where I drop off when going home is called Ungakhona.
The kombi turns and stops to drop yours truly. Now the return journey begins and is characterised by a language that entices commuters and when they do not oblige a dash of not so mild insults is squirted out effortlessly.
derick.khumalo
Online Reporter