Patrick Chitongo
At a time when Chiredzi Town Council is battling with financial woes, the local authority has lost about US$ 20,000 from the Transporters Association.
The loss came after the Transporters Association refused to pay their dues in protest over poor conditions at the two bus terminuses.
The situation was resolved last week during a closed-door meeting in which the Chiredzi Transporters Association, Chiredzi Town Council Chairperson, Jameson Charumbira and Town Secretary, Wesley Kauma were in attendance.
The Chairperson of the Chiredzi Transporters Association, Fanuel Mapope, complained that the council has been neglecting one of its cash cows in terms of income generating by failing to maintain the bus terminuses.
“Yes, it is true that we have not been paying to council for 3 weeks as we wanted to get their attention for quite some time now.
“Council collects about USD 1000 to $1500 a day from the bus terminuses alone but for 10 years, we have been trying to engage them to improve the standards at the bus terminuses.
“Our bus terminuses are in a sorry state and an eyesore to the public, yet we pay Council handsomely”, said Mapope.
The transporters submitted their consensus to the town council in December last year but there had been no response until the association decided to boycott payment of Rank fees.
Part of the consensus reads;
“Re-application for our point of conduct(office) since 2014. We submitted our applications several times but never resolved. May the council bear with us as we are their best stakeholder._
Both ranks need resurfacing due to the dust explosion caused by the bus resulting in health hazards to rank users causing TB and influenza._
The old rank water tape is surrounded by used pampers causing the drinking water to be contaminated and also old rank needs its toilet to reduce pressure on new rank toilets._
We propose new rank toilets and bathrooms so that the community will pay to bring sanity to the community and curb the spread of diseases being caused by the toilet. The toilet and bathrooms need an extra tank and 2 solar lights, flush units to be modernised to both auto and manual systems. Bathing rooms need wall and floor tiles._
Bars and bottle stores running in and around rank do not have their toilets causing health hazards to the community of Chiredzi and causing pressure and regular blockages on new rank toilets._
All rank infrastructure to be well serviced ie seating shades and bays, market restructured to modern ways. Old rank and new rank need 2-foot bridges on their sides as the bridge is too narrow.
We are still experiencing accidents caused by the council due to negligence of not putting safety signs during and after the maintenance of roads._
Residents in Makondo and Joina City always suffer transport problems every time during the rainy season due to 3 places that need small bridges or pipes or gravel to ease traffic crossing.
Council should put signage on pick up points for local combis to avoid road accidents. Also, council to collect refuse every Sunday on both ranks”_, read the consensus submitted to the council on 4 December 2023.
The Chiredzi Town Secretary did not respond to the questions sent to him by this reporter.
However, the Town Chairperson, Jameson Charumbira confirmed that they indeed held a meeting to resolve the crisis at the bus terminuses.
“We did meet with the transporters and the meeting was very fruitful. Council promised to attend to their requests and I will make a follow-up on the progress of the work to be done”, said Charumbira.
