PRIVATE companies requiring transportation for their workers can only hire buses registered under the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (Zupco) franchise, while private commuter omnibus operators will not be allowed back into operation, Government has said.
Local Government and Public Works Minister, July Moyo told the
Sunday News that the removal of private
kombis from the roads will help bring back sanity onto the country’s roads.
Private-owned commuter omnibuses were banned from the roads
when the initial national lockdown was introduced on March 30 last year as part
of measures to contain the spread of Covid-19.
Last week scores of commuters in Bulawayo were left
stranded after police impounded vehicles that were operating in defiance of
these regulations.
Company staff buses and vehicles hired to ferry school
children that were not registered under Zupco were not spared.
In an interview on the sidelines of the handover and launch
of the Local Authorities Database System (LADS) and Ward Profiles for
Matabeleland and Midlands provinces in Bulawayo, Minister Moyo said companies
should only hire Zupco registered vehicles to ferry their staff.
“Zupco affiliated commuter omnibuses are the only ones
allowed to operate, that is the policy in place and it has not changed,” he
said.
“Anybody who have their own buses and want to operate must
go and register with Zupco. This is to ensure that we manage urban companies
through one company but with many owners. All we are saying is that we want to
bring sanity to the whole system.
“Even companies that want to hire buses for their workers
should do so through Zupco alone and not hire private companies.”
Minister Moyo said Government and ICT experts at the Harare
Institute of Technology had introduced a high-tech system to manage all the
Zupco affiliated vehicles.
“It is now easy to monitor all these vehicles. “Authorities
can do this by just using their mobile phones through this system. This is what
we are pushing for when we talk about effectively managing our vehicles.”
Sunday Mail
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