Passenger association wants to wipe out touts

Patrick Chitumba Senior Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Passenger Operations Association (ZPOA) has said its working to wipe out touts from Bulawayo to bring sanity at bus termini and relief to both passengers and operators.

The touts who are a law unto themselves sometimes harass travellers, use foul language and urinate in public places

ZPOA chairperson Reverend Evans Mbambo said it was high time that touting, which is illegal, was dealt with. He said his organisation recently held a meeting with the police and passengers to discuss the issue and was now working with law enforcement agents to achieve their goal.

“We are working on getting rid of the touts from the ranks in and around the city. We will be working with the police because we have heard cries from both travellers and operators who accuse the touts of ripping them off after every load,” he said.

Rev Mbambo said they had also agreed with operators that the touts are not given money by drivers for just “shouting the route” which a commuter omnibus, taxi or bus would be taking.

He said passengers had indicated that they know their destinations and in cases of getting lost, they were also able to ask fellow passengers.

Rev Mbambo said passengers had also complained about the unfair treatment they were getting from operators.

“Passengers are of the feeling that operators with uncomfortable seats, broken windows should not be allowed to operate. They also said they should be allowed to disembark as and when they feel like it instead of being driven up and down as the operators look for more passengers,” said Rev Mbambo.

He said they were also looking at ways in which passengers would be compensated for lost luggage.

Rev Mbambo said it was unfair that passengers were made to pay for operators’ errors and negligence.

“Advance payment on short distances should be avoided because some vehicles are found to be speeding away with passengers at roadblocks. Passengers have the right to drop and find another vehicle than to risk their time and precious life over unorganised transport operator/crew,” he said.

On the other hand, Rev Mbambo said delays at roadblocks by police officers were disturbing the transport industry’s operations.

“Police roadblocks are just too many on the same road. Operators are charged for the same offence by the police on different roadblocks,” he said.

Bulawayo provincial police spokesperson Inspector Mandlenkosi Moyo yesterday said they were prepared to work with anyone or organisation to weed out touts from the streets. He said touting was a crime. “We have made progress in reducing the number of touts in the streets and we are going to fight them. We are prepared to work with anyone in eradicating the touts,” he said.