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16 Sep 2020
Staff Reporter
The cheapest used car, the fuel savers, particularly from Japan cost at least US$5000.
That is an arm and a leg even for civil servants.
Those at the bottom of the food chain do not even dream of owning such “luxuries”, they worry about public transport which, as things stand, is barely available.
On the other hand, the rich never even went into lockdown, their private cars and money have kept them from being forcibly shut indoors.
Even when fuel was a problem, they still bought theirs for US dollars while the majority waited in queues for hours or even days.
Roadblocks were 1:10 (one roadblock in affluent suburbs and their feeder roads to 10 in the high-density suburbs).
And as the economy continues to open up with Covid-19 regulations being relaxed, more people are beginning to make trips into the central business district or their different places of work. Unfortunately, the thousands of them either have to walk to and from their places of work or wait for several hours on end as ZUPCO buses and kombis fail to cope.
To show the heartlessness of those in power, Government says it intends to extend the ban on privately-owned commuter omnibuses (kombis) beyond the national lockdown and will only allow them to operate under the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO) franchise.
They say these are part of elaborate plans to de-congest urban centres and modernise the public transport system but everyone knows they simply want to create a ZUPCO monopoly.
Kombis have been barred from operating since the lockdown started on March 30.
To show the contempt with which the poor are treated, most kombis in Harare and most busy urban centres have broken windscreens and windows due to police callousness.
Kombis and their crews are attacked while people are inside causing not just damage to the kombis themselves and losses to the owners but injury to passengers including minors.
Greater Harare Association of Commuter Operators secretary-general Ngoni Katsvairo said the breaking of kombi windscreens and windows with passengers on-board was “very unfortunate”.
“They should simply take the registration plates of those operating illegally than act in that manner,” he said.
Police and other authorities know that the rich are prepared to go to court over their rights, so they simply trample on those of the poor, who cannot even afford a loaf of bread.
