400 MUSHIKA SHIKA IMPOUNDED IN HRE

The Harare City Council (HCC) has impounded more than 400 vehicles in a blitz targeting pirate taxis.

Harare council spokesperson Michael Chideme said taxis that are not registered with council and those that do not have relevant documentation would be seized and taken to Central Stores.

“Earlier, we impounded more than 400 vehicles and the number could swell to over 600 once the blitz commences again this weekend. We will not be negotiating with illegal traffic offenders. We want to restore normalcy and trafficability in the central business district (CBD). Haphazard picking and dropping of passengers will be gone,” Chideme said.

The blitz is part of the strategies being employed by HCC to bring sanity to the city in line with its 100-day work plan. It is being done in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Republic Police.

For ease of identification of traffic offenders, the city fathers are planning to install cameras at all intersections and parking bays in the CBD.

This means that the cameras at the traffic signals and parking bays would be linked to the main server.

The city’s roads operations manager George Munyonga said anyone who commits a traffic offence would be punished in accordance with the city’s traffic by-laws.

“Once we finish liaising with the Central Vehicle Registry and the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration. There will no longer be negotiations on evading traffic offences. Everyone will be charged if they violate traffic laws,” Munyonga said.

Council is also on a drive to amend the outdated 1977 Omnibus by-laws to suit current trends.
“Again, the current by-laws prohibited picking up passengers at undesignated places by operators yet the same passengers standing at undesignated places go scot free.

The amendments sought to punish both the operator and the passenger(s).
“Touting for passengers and bringing in inflammable substances into an omnibus were now prohibited unless the inflammable substances were secure enough in a metal container,” minutes produced by the HCC read in part. Daily News

Posted in: NEWS