admin
Crime Reporter
Police and Harare City Council have yet again embarked on a joint operation targeting all illegal vendors, touts, unregistered kombis and pirate taxis operating at undesignated places in and around the city.
So far, several kombi drivers, pirate taxis and vendors have been arrested during the ongoing crackdown aimed at restoring order in the city.
The operation, which is being conducted in both the city centre and residential areas, started yesterday and is still continuing.
This has already seen a higher percentage of kombis registered through the two main operator associations and who use the designated terminuses for their routes, plus buses and kombis in the Zupco stable, in the fleets that move thousands of commuters in and out of the city centre each day.
Harare provincial police spokesperson Inspector Luckmore Chakanza said these were day-to-day police duties aimed at bringing order to the city.
In an interview yesterday, council spokesperson Mr Innocent Ruwende also confirmed the developments.
“We are conducting the joint operation with a view of arresting all illegal vendors, touts, mushikashika operators and people operating from undesignated areas or places,” he said. “We are also working with the Zimbabwe Republic Police officers who are also providing security during the operation.”
Mr Ruwende said the council would be impounding vehicles and goods while penalty tickets would also be issued to offenders.
The operation comes after kombi operators slammed Harare City Council for hiking operators’ fees some of which they say are duplicated, hindering the ease doing of business.
A City of Harare route authority costs US$143 per year and is almost the same as the one being offered by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development operator’s licence that costs US$125 for three years.
Calculations show that commuter operators are forking out US$429 for three years for the duplicated document for which they are simply paying US$125 for the same period to the Government.
In an interview on Tuesday, Greater Harare Association of Commuter Operators (GHACO) chairman Mr Ngoni Katsvairo said even the route authority as issued by the Government, costs US$75 per year against council’s US$143.
“The costs by the local authority are actually against the Government’s ease of doing business policy,” he said. “We want to take the opportunity to thank the Minister of Transport for keeping the compliance fees at manageable costs in line with the Government’s policy of reducing the cost and ensuring the ease of doing business.”
Mr Katsvairo said through the Government’s ease of doing business policy, they were allowed to resume operations as small players.
However, Mr Ruwende justified the fee.
“As you may be aware, most of the ranks are in bad shape and the council requires funds to spruce up and modernise bus terminuses,” he said. “We had handed over the terminuses to Zupco and they never took care of them.
“We are the ones responsible for providing services such as sprucing up bus ranks, toilets, waste collection, so surely, the fees cannot be the same. It is a requirement that they pay the local authority and Government.”
Despite council claiming responsibility for sprucing up the terminuses, the situation on the ground shows dilapidated terminus infrastructure, characterised by garbage and chaos.
Even decent public lighting is now rare again after an attempt to keep passengers safer in the evenings.
Touts, who have virtually usurped municipal police powers, are also observed harassing passengers and collecting fees not due to them at law, threatening drivers until they have been paid their “protection money”.
At the same time, vendors have been invading terminuses and taking over chunks of the bays needed by buses and kombis loading, and making it ever more difficult for passengers to walk to their buses.
All these vices happen despite the presence of Zimbabwe Republic Police and municpal police on the streets and at the areas where the rowdy behaviour is being tolerated.
Online Reporter