Chronicle Editor
SOON Bulawayo will host the 21st Zanu-PF Annual National People’s Conference, which will see up to 3 000 delegates gathering in the country’s second largest city for the ruling party’s annual pilgrimage.
It is sad to note that while the city is expecting a huge influx of people, the delegates are going to be welcomed by notorious kombi crews that have turned different parts of the city into no-go areas.
Kombi crews and some transport operators have turned the city, once revered for its orderliness and cleanliness, into a chaotic scene as they park anywhere, pick and drop passengers as if there are no authorities charged with enforcing the law and order.
Roads such as Sixth Avenue Extension and Herbert Chitepo Street from Fifth Avenue to 11th Avenue have become un-traffickable and no-go areas for ordinary motorists as kombi crews have turned them into mini-ranks.
While Sixth Avenue is the perfect exit road for motorists using the City-Luveve Road, some have abandoned the route opting for longer routes such as driving using the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road and turning just before Mpilo Central Hospital to reconnect into Luveve Road in Mzilikazi near Emachipsini.
We recall a time when Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Judith Ncube had to confront the usually violent and unpredictable kombi crews operating illegally at Sixth Avenue for blocking traffic.
Minister Ncube, who was at the time leading a clean-up campaign, told the kombi crews the importance of operating at designated pick-up and drop off points.
Back then we wondered, “if the Minister, a representative of Government and indeed the highest office in the land at provincial level, takes it upon herself to intervene in the chaos caused by the kombi crews, where are the responsible authorities charged with the duties of making sure that the kombi crews do not turn the city into a theatre of chaos?”
We still wonder today, where are the police? Where is TTI? What is council doing about the menace of kombi and Honda Fit crews who are wantonly breaking the law?
Are they waiting for Minister Ncube to once again confront the kombi crews, which is not really her job as she has greater business to attend to, to be jolted into action?
We reiterate our pleas to the respective agencies charged with maintaining order in the city to act on the chaotic kombis and restore order to our beautiful city.
Online Reporter