adminWalter Mswazie Masvingo Correspondent
A TURF war between commuter omnibus operators and unregistered pirate taxis has erupted in Masvingo. Clashes between touts and drivers of pirate taxis have become the order of the day utside Meikles Departmental Store where taxis usually pick up passengers to Rujeko and Masvingo Teachers’ College.Commuter omnibus operators argue that they pay levies to the city council while unregistered pirate taxis pay nothing but deprive them of revenue through picking commuters at undesignated points.
Trymore Chivasa, a commuter omnibus operator who plies Town-Rujeko route called on the city fathers to act as a matter of urgency.
“It’s unfair when you pay levies to the council only for someone who is not paying anything to deprive you of revenue by picking passengers.
“We are operating legally and we should be the only ones allowed to transport commuters to and from town. We cannot just watch when these pirate taxis push us out of business,” said Chivasa.
Another driver, Tapera Shoko, said they took the matter to the relevant authorities, but nothing has been done yet raising suspicion that most of the unregistered pirate taxis belong to members of the police.
“We have taken the matter to the police and council but no action has been taken. If these taxis want to operate legally they should be registered,” said Shoko.
However, Taurai Chaka whose unregistered car plies City-Masvingo College route said although they were operating illegally, commuter omnibuses should not complain because they are not servicing the route in question.
“We are pirating because we also want to make a living. Commuter drivers should not complain because some of us ply routes which they do not service. What they should talk about is paying of taxes not for them to block our vehicles.
“The situation has turned nasty because some of the touts are taking the law into their own hands through forcing passengers to disembark from our taxis. This is bad, let those entitled to enforce the laws do so,” he said.
A tout, who identified himself as Charles said they have since resolved to block unregistered taxis that are caught picking passengers at the expense of commuter omnibuses.
“We have joined hands with drivers and touts to block any unregistered pirate taxi caught loading commuters. We will force commuters out of the vehicle and we will continue doing so until the situation is back to normal. We survive through touting although we know it is illegal. We cannot fold our hands when someone is taking business from us. We work on commission, the more kombis we load the more money we get,” he said.
Contacted for comment, Masvingo Mayor, councillor Hubert Fidze, said municipal police were expected to arrest all vehicles that pick passengers from undesignated points.
“All passenger carrying vehicles are expected to pick passengers at designated points and those found flouting city by-laws will be arrested,” he said.
He said ZRP and the municipal police were supposed to work together to enforce the law.
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