Police launch blitz against pirate taxis

Sikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Reporter
POLICE have launched a massive operation to get rid of pirate taxis with about 80 vehicles being impounded in a 48-hour blitz in Bulawayo.
Sources within the force yesterday said the exercise was also meant to enforce an order by police Commissioner-General, Augustine Chihuri that no police officer should run a transport business.
However, it could not be immediately verified whether there are any police vehicles among the impounded 80 cars. “The operation has been going on in the capital but it started in Bulawayo on Friday and will continue until sanity prevails in the transport sector,” said one of the sources.

National traffic spokesman, Inspector Tigere Chigome confirmed the exercise and said police would leave no stone unturned in their fight to remove illegal operators from the country’s roads.

“I don’t have the exact details in terms of the numbers but I can confirm that the exercise is there. We are taking everything, whether the car belongs to a police detail or civilian, there is no room for negotiation,” said Inspector Chigome.

Police sources told Chronicle that so serious is the operation that the Officer Commanding National Traffic Operations, Assistant Commissioner Shelton Dube drove from the police headquarters in Harare and has been camped in Bulawayo since Thursday last week. “It’s a serious operation really and while the official position is that it is aimed at getting rid of unregistered operators, mainly those using Noahs, Gaias and all these latest vehicles that have claimed so many lives, the real issue is enforcing the Commissioner-General’s order,” said the source.

Once impounded the vehicles are taken to Drill Hall for inspection by the Vehicle Theft Squad before being taken to the Vehicle Inspection Department (VID).
“It has been noted that some of these ex-Japanese cars have fake registration papers. They are being improperly registered right from the border hence the coming in of the VTS squad who will trace the vehicle from wherever it would have been imported from,” said the source.

It was also noted that genuine transport operators are being pushed out of business by the unregistered operators who allegedly have police protection.