dyton mupawaenda
Isdore Guvamombe
If there is anything that has defied logic over the years, it is the way we, as a country, have failed to tame the wayward on our roads — the kombi drivers.
Each time I see a kombi I cringe, for, am never sure what worst thing the driver is going to do, suddenly. kombis have become a menace whether you are a passenger, a pedestrian, a cyclist or another driver.
Can anything good come out of kombi drivers?
The abnormal has become the normal, common sense is no longer common and the law is no longer legal. Yes, the kombi drivers have made traffic laws illegal. Illegal!
Life has become cheap. The kombi drivers, the dare devils or rather devil incarnates, do as they wish on our roads regardless the dangerous, and mostly fatal effects to other motorist and pedestrians too.
The kombis do everything wrongly. The drivers care only about the cash, not even the passengers who bring in the cash, for once a passenger gets in, all rights are taken away, the passenger immediately becomes luggage and the route can change any minute or the destination, even the fare can change.
The touts shout obscenities to anyone as if they were not born of women. The touts shove men, women and children, (including the elderly) into their vehicles, as if they are not people.
Scenes of store-away touts hanging precariously on kombi backs are common and personally, am not sure of others, I have not heard of a case in which a kombi crew and the touts have been prosecuted for that disturbing behaviour.
This is common during peak hours and ironically this is the time when police are on the road.
Scenes of kombis passing through road blocks with store-aways on their back are very common. One wonders what exactly it means.
Just a few days ago, President Mnangagwa lamented the lack of discipline on our roads.
The President even asked for the police to act and hopefully this time around they will act.
Some of these things, in my opinion, can easily be dealt with by our police. Something is just lacking somewhere.
In the past few weeks, I was very excited to see roadblocks all over the country but at the end, they ended up dealing with trivial issues, not that those issues are not important, but police should decisively deal with errant drivers and touts.
Maybe we needed more deterrent punishment for these drivers.
A little investigation has also shown that most of the men and women driving buses also came from kombis and are doing exactly the same antics with the big buses.
Then there is mushikashika, same club. Our roads have become dangerous. Every time you drive, you survive by luck. That is very bad.
The President was emphatic that The Zimbabwe Republic Police must tame the traffic jungle on the country’s roads through implementing the electronic traffic management system to curb carnage which has been on the rise over the years.
He made the remarks in his keynote address at a ZRP recruit graduation ceremony at Mkushi Academy recently.
“The high rate of indiscipline on our roads, which has resulted in the loss of countless lives due to road carnage, is disturbing. More worrisome is the fact that a total of 4 069 people were killed in road traffic accidents in 2024, compared to 2 104 in 2023, reflecting an astonishing 93 percent increase.
“The ZRP is challenged to tame the traffic jungle by speedily implementing the Electronic Traffic Management System.
“I call upon all Zimbabwean citizens to respect the country’s traffic laws and cooperate with law enforcement agencies,” said President Mnangagwa.
The President is very correct because, especially our urban roads have seen an influx of mushikashika and kombis that have become a menace as the drivers are notorious for flouting traffic laws.
Commuter omnibus drivers and some private motorists are also a terror on urban roads due to recklessness.
It is our hope that the recent handover of 500 vehicles for police operations from the Government — which is a show of serious commitment on its part — will be used by police to ensure our safety.
We should be grateful that the Government is ensuring that the force is well-equipped with tools of the trade.
But modern ICT hardware and software are now of critical importance to an effective police force, and we have seen other African countries start doing it.
Honestly at this stage of life we, as Zimbabweans should at this stage in life, never be troubled by public transport drivers.
They should be the most disciplined because they carry human life. But they are the worst.
It is a dream, for some of us, to one day drive from home to work and vice versa, in flowing traffic where kombis do not create side traffic, beat traffic lights or drive against legal traffic. That should not be a big dream. With a bit of enforcement, this can surely end overnight.
The President made it clear that he hoped that “the various high-impact innovations that are being undertaken by the police such as the Automated Fingerprint System will aid investigations and subsequent convictions of both first and repeat offenders. More innovations of this type should be encouraged to enhance efficiency in the justice delivery system.”
Most of the law abiding citizens are with the President on this issue.
As drivers of private vehicles we are tired of being bullied by kombi and mushikashika drivers.
The irony of it is that the more you drive well and to the traffic book, the more you get bullied by the kombis and mushikashika.
“Unlike yesteryear where physical height and stamina were critical attributes for joining the force, today policing is no longer a walk in the park. The challenges in this profession now require higher levels of knowledge and broader skills. Hence, the importance of deliberately designed training curricula that mould competent and professional police officers. In this regard, it is commendable that the two-year diploma programme undertaken by the graduating class incorporated an elaborate syllabi of contemporary policing courses,” said the President.
The President is spot on. Most of the accidents happening on our roads these days are human error. It is not a lie that bullying of drivers using legal rules on the road has increased to disturbing proportions. We need to tame the lawlessness.
Online Reporter