MDC Alliance Leader, Advocate Nelson Chamisa says commuter omnibuses must return insisting that ZUPCO is a Covid-19 super spreader.
On his twitter handle Advocate Nelson Chamisa said public transport has left a lot of youths jobless and brought a lot of suffering to Zimbabweans as commuters are now relying on insecure open trucks.
The MCD Alliance leader reiterated that ZUPCO is also a Covid-19 super spreader.
“Command transport must end! The illegal ZUPCO monopoly has; -left many jobless, brought suffering leaving many stranded or in overcrowded rickety buses & resorting to insecure open trucks. -ZUPCO is potentially a COVID-19 super spreader but ‘Chefs’ don’t care,” said Chamisa.
This comes after Minister of Local Government and Public Works Hon July Moyo had urged the police to enlist the services of the army in operations meant to curb the activities of private transport operators who are plying various routes in cities and towns.
Under the Covid-19 regulations, ZUPCO is the only public transport operator permitted on the roads.
Hon July Moyo added that government was concerned about the return of private transport operators on the country’s roads.
“I would like to talk to you (police) before I leave because this is very important, If we don’t enforce, people will relax, maybe there are difficulties but it is better to know if there are difficulties but that does not mean we allow non-public transport to take place.
“We operate under pieces of legislation, so if enforcement requires you to command the municipal police, please do so. If the law, as it does, allows you to say if you are overwhelmed, please bring the army, please do it,” he said.
The Minister was addressing a meeting of various sub-committees of the Bulawayo Provincial Covid-19 taskforce.
The minister claimed that government had crafted the public transport policy way before Covid-19 struck to maintain order.
“We started this when there was no Covid-19, to say only ZUPCO will be the public transporter in all urban areas. In fact, if the private sector was still dominant and we would in my view have a worse situation, so the enforcement of public transport is important,” he added.
Commuters are experiencing long queues at ZUPCO bus terminus while the government is trying to improve the Public transport sector by aquiring buses from foreign countries, however huge numbers of commuter presence at ranks proves that it is still an ongoing process for Zimbabwe to acquire an efficient transport system that provide positive service delivery.
