Commuters’ lives in danger as kombi wars emerge

By Whinsley Masara

BULAWAYO – A turf war between kombis and pirate taxis has emerged in Bulawayo’s urban routes, threatening the lives of commuters. At times the wars involve commuter omnibus crews as they fight for the odd customer during off-peak hours.

The “wars” are on most routes in the city centre, Western areas and Eastern suburbs with the most notorious points being the Emagetsini-Luveve road, 3rd Avenue and Main Street pick-up points as well as some points in Lobengula and Pumula.

Commuters are not amused and they want the police to act and bring the madness to an end.

Eighteen passengers’ lives were on Tuesday endangered when a group of nine touts, popularly known as omavala, pulled out keys from a moving kombi.

A Chronicle news crew witnessed some of the fights.

Yesterday, a pirating kombi plying the Emganwini-city route fell into a trench after a tout grabbed the ignition keys while the other wrestled with the steering wheel of the moving vehicle in a bid to stop it from taking off.

The incident occurred near Nketa 7’s Tavern turn-off at around 8AM. Tout fights started following an increase of pirate taxis and kombis that go off route in search of passengers.

Tineyi Masheedzanwa, one of the passengers, told The Chronicle that the behaviour of the touts on the streets was worrying and frightening.

“When the kombi approached the Tavern turn off, one of the touts pulled off the keys while the other one grabbed the steering wheel. This led to the driver losing control and the kombi falling into a nearby trench.

“We were briefly trapped there until the touts came to pull out the kombi after they probably realised they could end up in trouble with the police. These fights are getting out of hand. If the police don’t intervene, we could end up losing lives unnecessarily,” he said.

Masheedzanwa said one of the most notorious kombi drivers engaged in these dangerous fights was a woman popularly known as “Mai Dembare”.

He said the woman was yesterday blocking the road with her kombi shouting that she has permission to do so.

“I’m very unfortunate because I’ve no choice but to use the kombis to and from work on a daily basis. I pray that these wars are dealt with as they are quite disturbing.

“The crews and their touts block the roads and become rowdy and aggressive. A vehicle can take up to 10 minutes to negotiate and be allowed to pass. Some are made to pay to be allowed to pass,” he said.

Masheedzanwa said the situation gets worse during peak hours.

Most of the touts and the kombi crews, he said, will be under the influence of alcohol, putting the lives of passengers in danger.

A resident of Queens Park West who preferred anonymity said the touts were getting out of control and pleaded with the relevant authorities to take appropriate action before lives are lost.

The resident said the touts at times become so emotionally charged that they end up engaging in fist fights.

“The wars are getting dangerous as drivers and their conductors now move with weapons to defend themselves against the rowdy kombi crews who block their way,” he said.

A tout identified only as “Giant” boasted to the Chronicle, saying they were employed by kombi owners to monitor operations on particular routes.

“We’re only maintaining order on all the roads. This helps all kombis to stick to their routes in order to service their allocated areas,” said Giant.

Melusi Moyo, a pirate taxi driver, said no amount of threat or violence will keep him off the road.

He said he had a family to fend for and will fight, if need be, to remain in business.

Moyo said he did not have the money to register his taxi and should be allowed to operate.

“Where do the touts expect us to go? They’re actually fighting us because many people prefer the small taxis which offer good services.

“We won’t go anywhere because we’re only afraid of the traffic police not the kombis and their touts. We pick and drop people at their doorsteps. That’s quality service which is second to none,” he said.

Bulawayo Traffic police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi could not be reached for comment as his phone went unanswered. The Chronicle