Rank control: Council officials meet

Council spokesman Mr Leslie Gwindi confirmed the meeting yesterday, but did not disclose details.
“We have been in a meeting the whole day and we are still fine-tuning certain issues but the ultimate goal is to find a solution to the situation (ranks control),” said Mr Gwindi.
However, he said the meeting could not come up with a solution to the problem adding they would meet again today.
Disturbances at city ranks caused by a misunderstanding between kombi crews and marshals threatened to degenerate into chaos, prompting police to intervene.
Harare residents are unhappy with the city fathers’ failure to bring sanity to the city’s transport system.
Alois Mazikanha, who owns kombis plying the Machipisa-Kuwadzana route, said it was high time council came up with measures to protect both the commuters and the operators from the unscrupulous marshals.
“It has become difficult for us to operate profitably.
“Unlike in the past where touts would determine who was to                        load passengers first, the current situation has seen most kombi crews having to wait while those that come later were allowed to ferry passengers,” he said.
The situation at most of the city’s ranks was calm yesterday.
Mrs Tracy Moyo of Mufakose said: “I am just arriving from my rural home in Gokwe and was unaware of the recent development.
“I have had to inquire from                   one kombi crew to another because the touts are nowhere to be fou-          nd.”
Council has come up with similar clean-up exercises, which have                      failed to yield sustainable results due to a lack of follow-up plans.
However,  city mayor Mr Muchadeyi Masunda on Monday                  said they were ready to move in and control the ranks.
Council also said it was still consulting a number of stakeholders to be taken aboard the scheme                     among them war veterans, the elderly and pensioners.