…as 7 touts are arrested
Martin Muleya
Rank marshals at Old Harare rank in Mutare City engaged in fierce fist fighting over passengers as the economy continues to tank with the job market shrinking every day hence the flood of touts at most pick up points to earn a living.
Most touts on Thursday (today) ganged up against Manicaland transport mogul, Isau Mupfumi’s employees for allegedly getting first preference in loading their buses which outnumber competitors.
So violent were the skirmishes that a rank marshal belonging to Gold Class buses owned by Mupfumi was badly injured after he was assaulted by other angry rank marshals from competition.
In a telephone interview, Manicaland Transport Association chairman Mupfumi blamed other transport operators for orchestrating the violence because of greed.
“I want to warn rank marshals to desist from the use of machetes or resorting to violence. Those who are behind the violence have the backing of their employers who want to appear as if they are maintaining order yet they are just greed.
“Just because I have the biggest fleet, I am the culprit, oooh no. ZUPCO also has a big fleet of new buses as well plying the Harare route, but they are not being victimised.
“My buses load more often because of the numbers, at any given time there are 6 buses that will be coming from Harare to Mutare and vice versa.
“I have 30 buses that ply that route and I cannot be told to just release four or less. I have more that 200 workers and they all cannot survive from the money realised from four buses.
“At any given time there are 10 buses on the 262km stretch from Harare to Mutare hence my buses are always ahead in the loading queue.
“Competition is good for our customers and if one feels they can’t match my competition, my advice is, kindly look for alternative routes because I am not looking back, more state of the art buses are coming,” said Mupfumi.
He urged City of Mutare to allow bus operators to operate outrightly from Musika long distance terminus for order to prevail.
“In Harare there are no buses that load in the central business district but rather they were allocated a bay they use on their way out of Harare.
“The idea that bus operators team up and engage in mafia style of loading should stop. We must have order!
“If this problem is addressed we won’t witness what we saw today. Rank marshals should not resort to the use of machetes in solving differences of this nature,” added Mupfumi.
City of Mutare Mayor, Simon Chabuka told The Midweek Watch that he only heard about the chaos through social media.
“I just heard of the violence on social media. I am yet to get finer details of what happened. As the local authority we condemn all forms of violence and illegal activities in town. It is my prayer that the law enforcement agencies take this matter seriously and maintain order in the city. The Old Harare rank in question is a Council rank, we will investigate whether our employees were also involved in the fracas.
“A detailed response will be shared with the Mutare community on the issue and the city’s position as regards the illegal activities in town,” said Chabuka.
Chabuka backed the proposal that buses should start loading from Sakubva and just make a brief stop in town before heading to Harare, adding that this had been the arrangement before.
Asked why Council was allowing bus operators to load in town instead of Sakubva Bus Terminus, Chabuka had this to say;
“Old Harare rank in town is for offloading and just a pick up point. This needs to be addressed. It was an oversight on our part (Council) and will be addressed soon,” he explained.
Manicaland acting provincial police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Wiseman Chinyoka confirmed the violence at Old Harare rank this morning and said that investigations were on-going.
“We are seized with the matter and police attended the scene where 7 rank marshals were arrested in connection with the violence. However, we will issue a full statement tomorrow (Friday),” said Ass Insp Chinyoka.
