ZRP Operation “Tame The Traffic Jungle” Leaves Commuters Stranded
Thousands of commuters in Harare and other urban cities and towns are struggling to find transport to and fro work following the launch of an operation by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) targetting unlicensed commuter omnibuses and pirate taxis (mushikashika).
Police launched the operation “Tame the Traffic Jungle” across all provinces of the country starting on 12 September 2023.
According to ZRP spokesman, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi, the “operation has been necessitated by the lawlessness on the roads especially in major cities and towns”.
In Harare, some kombis were dropping off commuters before their destinations to avoid police roadblocks on major roads leading to the city centre.
Speaking to NewsDay, Tinashe Muturikwa, a commuter, said the police operation was meant to punish urban dwellers for voting for the opposition CCC. He said:
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We are struggling to get transport. Police are just everywhere disrupting us from getting transport home.
Personally, I feel the government is punishing us for overwhelmingly voting for CCC. It’s the same with regard to electricity.
Police officers have reportedly been impounding vehicles without charging drivers or vehicle owners.
Zimbabwe Union of Drivers and Conductors president Frederick Maguramhinga told NewsDay that the operation is a noble initiative but they are not happy with how it is being implemented. He said:
What is happening on the ground is that even the vehicles with the necessary documentation are now being impounded.
The process of acquiring papers is difficult because we don’t have a one-stop shop, we don’t access papers online and the papers also take time to come out.
We want the operation to have phases, for instance, vehicles that are 70% compliant are different from vehicles with zero compliance.
However, Passengers Association of Zimbabwe (PAZ) president Tafadzwa Goliath commended the Government for launching the blitz. He said:
Government must craft a transport policy. We don’t have one currently. But the operation is good, it might bring sanity to cities.
The operation will also protect civilians from getting robbed by drivers of cars posing as mushikashika.
This is not the first time that the ZRP has launched an operation to curb lawlessness on the country’s roads in recent times.
Police have previously initiated operations to bring sanity to the roads lasting two weeks at a time, but Mushikashika returned to the road as soon are the operation came to an end.
Critics argue that these operations have failed to bring lasting solutions to “traffic jungles” in towns and have only fattened the pockets of corrupt police officers.
More: Pindula News
