Passengers Association of Zimbabwe is concerned with the overloading of commuter omnibuses. This deliberately mischievous disregard for passenger safety by commuter omnibus operators, crews and touts should stop forthwith. Many people are dying on our roads due to this road carnage Russian roulette, where greedy people fail to realize that overloading is like playing with a loaded gun- one that is pointing at the head of a commuter.
We call upon passengers to avoid boarding overloaded vehicles. We call upon crèches, schools and churches not to overload hired passenger service vehicles. The tradition of “paKadoma” or “facebook” must end.
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We advise commuter omnibus operators to desist from giving their crews difficult daily targets. Commuter omnibus crews must not be greedy in pursuit of “mari yemusana” that extra dollar for personal gain. Touts are another hardnosed lot that make a killing or seek to gain where they did not sow, by overloading passenger service vehicles. The tout being a parasitic breed should be removed.
Ultimately, law enforcers must properly play their part. Sometimes, commuter omnibuses pay a fine in the morning and then overload on every trip throughout the day. We are concerned by the paradox that a spot fine becomes a ticket for breaking the law several times throughout the day. As a result, a kombis that should carry 15 people may end up killing and injuring up to 24 people. Commuters in a kombi that is overloaded with people and luggage cannot escape easily and are more prone to injury or death.
We look forward to the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development and TSCZ, the ZRP Traffic Branch and VID to help put an end to the problem of overloading and to punish both the commuter omnibus operators and their crews.
