Commuter Omnibus operators and the traffic police are still at war on the roads even after the kombis were given a go ahead by government to start operating.
Defence and War Veterans Minister, Oppah Muchinguri- Kashiri last week said it is now ok for Kombis to get back on the streets provided that they register with the ministry of transport and follow the safety regulations.
“Originally, every private operator who wanted to operate had to register with Zupco but we realised Zupco also had challenges. There are now new players in the economy hence the need to open up the transport sector especially the inter – city transport.” She said.
Ever since the lockdown in March when the corona virus was first detected in the country, the only kombis that were allowed to operate on the roads were the ones that are registered with Zupco which are very few and can not accommodate everyone.
However due to lack of the Zupco kombis and the increase in number of commuters, the ordinary kombis are still operating, taking people to and from the CBD and when the police see them, they pursue and smash those kombi windows endangering the lives of everyone inside.
Minister Kashiri said only Kombis that are still road worthy and not pirate taxes (Mushikashika) will be allowed to register with the Ministry of Transport.
This will be an issue as many kombis in urban areas are already destroyed. Most of them now have cardboard boxes as windows and some were smashed beyond repair by the police. This will be hard for many kombis to get registered by the Ministry of Transport since only those that are still road worthy will be registered.
