GOVERNMENT has urged public transport operators to continue
ferrying people to their work stations and ignore rowdy mobs trying to cause
chaos.
Yesterday opposition-linked rioters blocked roads, stoned
or burnt vehicles and also blocked people on their way to work.
Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Joel
Biggie Matiza said Government would not hesitate to revoke licences of
transporters who deliberately stop carrying people.
Minister Matiza also told The Herald yesterday that public
transport operators should desist from hiking fares.
His remarks come in the wake of riots by shadowy groups
sympathetic to the opposition that left a trail of destruction in Harare and
Bulawayo.
Minister Matiza said transport operators were being
cushioned from the recent increase in fuel prices through a tax rebate being
worked out by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.
“As Government, we urge public transport operators to
continue carrying people doing their daily businesses,” said Minister Matiza.
“Some operators may deliberately choose not to carry people
and as Government I want to make it clear that we will not hesitate to take
stiffer decisions, including revoking their operating licences,” he said.
“We are also aware that there are some unscrupulous
operators who are already hiking fares. We urge them to desist from that behaviour.
The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development is working out a rebate to
cover for that increase. What is important to us as Government is to ensure
that people continue to do their businesses without any obstruction including
shortage of public transport,” he said.
Transport operators yesterday were charging the commuting
public as high as $3 for a trip from locations as close as Kambuzuma and
Highfield to the Central Business District.
Members of the public were seen in the afternoon walking from
the CBD to their respective locations.
In a statement on Monday, Finance and Economic Development
Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube said: “Cognisant of the need to prevent
generalised price increases for goods and services following fuel price
adjustments, Government has decided to provide relief through refund of excise
duty on fuel consumed by registered businesses in the following sectors:
manufacturing, mining agriculture and transport. The relief provided will be
equivalent to the difference between the prevailing rates of excise duty and the
rates that were applicable prior to this change.”
Prof Ncube said those who had increased their prices since
the latest fuel price review on Saturday should revert to the pre-12 January,
2019 prices given that Government had already put in place price adjustment
compensatory framework through refunds. Herald
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