The transport system hell in Zimbabwe

By Beniah Takunda Munengwa

In 1998, Toyota Japan unleashed a new range of family vehicles to add on to its phenomenal brand. It wasn’t a very fancy car either. Its initial price ranged from 1 798 000 to 2 070 000 yen. The name of this new vehicle was The Toyota Noah Liteace van.

This Toyota Noah had a carrying capacity of eight passengers, with the driver excluded. It had a Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) of 1440 kgs and a Net Vehicle Mass (NVM) of – as per by regulated specifications.

These specifications were obviously meant to secure the much needed security as well as comfort for a family vehicle on smooth European roads and not for Zimbabwean roads (you know how they are!).

Little did the Toyota Chief…, back then, Shoichiro Toyoda  know that, one day, part of his fleet would end up running part of the jeopardised Zimbabwean transport system.

Of course, he could have had desired that scenario to come onto his way, had it been that, this range under the Toyota Noah trademark came to Africa as brand new wagons. But unfortunately for him, it was not to happen.

After about ten years or less later, the act of dumping the out of favour vehicles primarily in Japan, so as to decongest scrapyards was to make the Toyota Noah find its smooth way to another dumping site by the name of Zimbabwe.

At first, it managed to live to its immediate pragmatic roles – to be a family vehicle up until some very improvisational Zimbos saw it fit to turn the Toyota Noah into a cash cow. To them, it became a vehicle which could help ferry people to and from without necessarily incurring gigantic service bills as well as some fair fuel consumption.

Not even the Zimbabwe Republic Police Traffic (ZRP) officers could deter them. Mind you, some of these vehicles are reportedly owned by police officers.

Ever since the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO) was declared ‘dead’, with the government folding hands thereafter the gap of not having a public transport provider was left void. Therefore, it is out of this scenario that private stakeholders (especially individuals) were prompted to take this precarious situation into their own hands.

This special stance on The Toyota Noah is inspired by my experiences on the Marondera to Mahusekwa route and otherwise. But I know that, this situation can as well be prevalent elsewhere, with a different vehicle altogether and it might not be with the best narrative to suit that situation.

As stated before, the government cannot provide the public with transport services the petty mosaic of a small Zimbabwean road network and the Marondera to Mahusekwa route is not an exception.

For the residents as well as other people with any forms of business connected to Mahusekwa or Marondera, they have to rely on the services of the privately owned Toyota Noahs’.

The distance in total is approximately 53 kilometres and it costs a passenger his or her valuable USD 2.00 or USD 1.50 in between bus stops despite the significant fall in fuel prices. But these exorbitant fees do not just come without any further defects.

Despite the presence of multiple Zimbabwe Republic Police manned roadblocks and Vehicle Inspection Department patrol vehicles, the Toyota Noah Liteace van manages to escape with crimes of excessively overloading with an amount of passengers double the regulated limit and to use private vehicles for public use.

You are now already wondering how a vehicle meant to ferry only seven or eight heads could double this amount of passengers right? Yes, it can. Everybody is improvisational in Zimbabwe, lest you thought that you were the only ones.

But before I give an explanation about how these people get to make all the passengers seated, oh no, not seated but sorted (like luggage), I have to disclose the exact average number of heads on-board of a fully loaded Toyota Noah vehicle.

It’s a whopping seventeen heads in one vehicle with just four tyres of the side of, and a vehicle with the length and height of… respectively.

First, there’s the front seat which ordinarily accommodate two heads and a section to place your beverages and sundry. But in this special case, the capacity of the front seats of the Toyota Noah is expanded to four, leaving the driver with no ample space to negotiate his comfortable control of the deck- the pedals section and the steering wheel.

On second, comes the second seat, just behind the front seat. Again it accommodates four heads. But in this case, the scenario would have had been close to normal had it been there was no standing conductor who then jeopardises the petty comfort present.

Then on the third and final seat, four people also finds their bottoms on the seat but their backs will not enjoy the luxury of having their backs resting on the seat’s back. But why? Because their seat has to have its leaning space folded.

But what for? So as to make another set of four heads to get to find a place to seat. And those on this new row of seating will work with those on the third seat to give each other ‘back-back’ support on the go. But where do they get in from? They get in from the back door, (that one reserved for luggage and bicycles).

Four heads plus Four heads plus Four heads plus Four heads equals to sixteen heads plus the conductor. The total is just seventeen as stated before.

Whether it’s humane or its inhumane, it is just the normal experience for one who uses the Toyota Noah to plie the Marondera – Mahusekwa route.

But to me, as a first time virgin passenger, it was a very horrendous experience so to say. As a result of lack of comfort and legroom, I was subjected to countless cramps which made myself not to feel my right leg for most of the time of my unforgettably infamous journey.

As that was not enough on the reckless regard to human safety, the Toyota Noah carried some building materials overhead to add on to the countless counts of breaking the law on overloading.

Another cause of concern was that, the Toyota Noah was mostly moving with an acceleration of over 100 kilometres/hour whilst drivers were chasing each other in a bid to outwit one another on collecting crowds waiting on the roadside.

This was by far my worst traffic related experience that I had faced after my Glenview experience where I found myself in bus models as old as my father, just rejuvenated in power carrying up to 150 passengers in a single go. The effects are more of the same.

So it remains my assumption that, when Toyota did introduce the Toyota Noah range, they never expected that it could end up serving this kind of purpose.