adminMost rural workers live at their work stations while others commute to and from work daily like their urban counterparts. Due to the scarcity of transport and spiralling transport costs, many public workers remain with no option but to walk to and from their work places from Monday to Friday in order to ensure that there is bread and butter on the table for their children.
Even those in urban areas are not spared the agony of daily commuting to and from their work places. In the worst circumstances, some workers have to hitch-hike twice in order to get to their work places, spending nearly $3 per day on transport only. At the end of each month, most workers would have spent over $90 in transport, a figure which surpasses the pecuniary monthly allowance of about $60 by $30.
It is a cause for concern that many workers have to endure long journeys to and from their workplaces and they have expressed concern, imploring the employer to consider meaningful transport allowances and car loans commensurate with the dignity of their professions.
Mrs Nicky Hove-Moyo, a public worker in the city, decried the conditions under which most civil servants commute to work and called on the employer to consider car loans for civil servants.
“Some workers walk to work, others travel at the back of open trucks. This is pathetic. We implore the employer to consider car loans in order to ensure a decent travel to work which also dignifies the services,” said Mrs Hove-Moyo.
She said absenteeism from work places was sometimes as a result of transport problems faced by workers. It is pleasing that amid the challenges, the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta) national leadership has initiated a motorbike scheme aimed at ameliorating the transport blues faced by most rural teachers.
According to a recent report, the motorbike scheme is a partnership between the teachers’ union and Elimobile Motorcycle which launched the first batch of motorbikes in Bindura on 6 March 2012 at a colourful function which was attended by scores of beneficiaries including Zimta national president Mrs Tendai Chikowore. She received her new motorbike at the event.
Speaking at the launch of the motorbike project, Mrs Chikowore acknowledged the transport challenges that teachers are facing in a bid to get to and from their various workplaces.
“As an active teacher, I am privy to the transport challenges that many educators face. I can therefore speak with authority when I say the product is designed as an emergency response to transport challenges faced by many of our rural school teachers,” said Mrs Chikowore.
She urged all teachers to handle the motorbikes well.
The project which avails a brand new motorbike on the payment of an agreed deposit, is an urgent mechanism anticipated to ameliorate the transport blues faced by most teachers especially in rural areas where schools are far apart. Following the launch of the scheme many rural teachers have received the news with enormous glee and profound enthusiasm.
Speaking immediately after unpacking the province’s allocation of the motorbikes, Matabeleland North provincial chairman, Mr Tapson Nganunu Sibanda, praised the project and expressed optimism that the motorbikes would go a long way towards the reduction of transport blues faced by teachers across his dominantly rural province.
“This is the first batch of our motorbikes envisaged to bring transport relief to our members who are mostly based in rural areas,” said Mr Nganunu Sibanda.
Like Mrs Chikowore, Mr Nganunu Sibanda also revealed that the scheme was a response mechanism designed to reduce discomfort teachers endure travelling while members are saving for cars.
One of many teachers who welcomed the good news was Mr John Sililo Munsaka who teaches at Pashu in Binga. He was part of a crowd of curious teachers who witnessed the arrival of the motorbikes at the provincial Zimta offices in Bulawayo on 10 March this year. Expressing his profound delight for the motorbikes, Mr Munsaka said he was happy that the erratic transport network in his area would be improved by the motorbikes.
“Most of us in Binga welcome the motorbikes. Transport is erratic in Binga. We hope the motorbikes will ease the movement of teachers between schools and administration offices in the district,” said the elated Mr Munsaka.
Another teacher, Mr Jobe Khumalo of Nsango, a farm school situated nearly 48km from Inyathi centre, also lauded the Zimta leadership for launching the motorbike scheme and said the facility would be handy to teachers at remote schools in resettlement areas.
“Our school is inaccessible by any form of public transport except scotch carts. We will buy the motorbikes and make our travel easier,” said Mr Khumalo.
However, other teachers said while the motorbike scheme was welcome, the Zimta leadership must consider searching for local or regional partners with a view to securing a car loan scheme.
“My father was a teacher for years. Through this profession he acquired many assets including a car, using his monthly salary. Our leaders must lobby and take us to our yester year status,” said Miss Fortune T Ndlovu, a teacher at a school in Umguza district.
She said she dreaded the fact that she and her contemporaries might never realise their dreams of owning cars.
Admittedly, transport is one of the essential requirements for any worker if expeditious and timeous work has to be done. Due to erratic, scarce or high cost of travelling to work, many workers are found to be either late for work, unhappy, performing below expectations or totally on involuntary absence.
There is a compelling need to find a permanent response mechanism to transport blues in order to improve productivity through enhanced and improved morale among government workers.
A revered labour and industrial psychologist, Tim Blarke once said, “A second is worth millions of dollars to a firm.”
If a second is worth that much, what is the worth of all the hours and days that workers delay or absent themselves from work due to transport blues?
Online Reporter