Dear Editor
Are city fathers in Masvingo and Harare doing enough to curb the ranks all over urban rot?
I mentioned the two cities as case studies. What should be done to maintain sanity in Central Business Districts? Touts and transporters have managed to capture every empty space available in cities and establish their pick up and drop off points.
If it is done in an orderly manner we can say it’s convenient to the travellers but now it’s a cash cow for rank marshals who appear to be very organized and brutal to travellers.
The rank marshals share the spoils amongst themselves after scouting and filling the passengers on buses and other unregistered small vehicles. This is done everywhere and nobody cares.
The Masvingo city fathers once offered a moratorium for buses to use Mucheke Bus terminus but all that fell on deaf ears.
Only in early June 2023, when Presidentr Mnangagwa was visiting and meeting first time voters at Mucheke Stadium (Masvingo). That was when l realised that this goal of maintaining our cities normal and orderly is possible, that day no pirate taxis were visible and touts were behaving.
So to maintain sanity in urban areas the President must regularly visit?.’ Why are city councils and the police failing to enforce these by-laws? Why is the Zimbabwe Republic Police failing to bring sanity in our CBDs?
In Masvingo only three sites or locations which can accommodate this traffic jungle are Metro Peach , Madeira- Flea Market and Croco Motors as they have ablution facilities nearby.
I am not legalising these facilities but they have a better standing compared to other ranks dotted around in the CBD, as they promote littering, urinating and open defecation. These contribute to cholera outbreaks and clogging of drainage systems.
In Harare the responsible authorities have also failed to bring a civilised transportation system in place. They also failed to maintain all former Harare United Passenger Bus termini.
Most of these shelters are lying in disrepair, they lack repainting and maintenance. So, the situation is dire and the once sunshine city is now the dark city. The drainage system in Harare is heavily affected due to littering caused by these undesignated ranks found at every corner of the city.
And how did the yester year urban administrations manage to curb such a menace? They were composed of dedicated urban planners and workers, who duly performed their duties with minimum supervision.
Officers who walked with postures of dedicated personnel who did not lean on walls, smoking and eating publicly, who didn’t want to be corrupted. These days you come across officers in uniform both municipal and regular Zimbabwe Republic Police officers chatting with the perceived law breakers( touts). So who gonna guard the guard?
Failure to curb this cancerous relationship between law enforcers and breakers will condemn all our cities to shanty towns. If the coming of a President in town, can stop all these shenanigans and what cause it to begin the moment Zim 1 leave town? Uyadelela!
Munhu Mutapa
