Bus rank war: Plans to halt operations
MANZINI – There are threats to put Manzini Bus Rank to a standstill, while dealing with public transport vehicles, which are without permits.
According to a source close to the matter, some public transport vehicles had permits that allowed them to operate, for example; between Madlangempisi and Mafutseni or Siteki and Moneni.
However, he said recently, these public transport vehicles went to offload the passengers at the bus rank and subsequently ranked for passengers.
He said this affected the operations of other public transport vehicles, whose permits allowed them to go as far as the bus rank.
As a result, the source said on January 10, 2024, tempers flared at the Manzini Bus Rank, as public transport workers servicing the Ngwane Park route downed tools in protest against an alleged operation of a kombi belonging to Mafutseni Member of Parliament (MP) Sabelo Mtsetfwa. He said the workers observed that the MP’s vehicle entered the Manzini Bus Rank and supposedly ranked in a platform reserved for Ngwane Park vehicles, yet its permit did not allow it to operate at the bus rank. He said the confrontation disturbed the operations for about two hours and, according to the police, the driver of the kombi was arrested for operating at the bus rank without a corresponding permit.
However, he said the matter had been taken up by public transport operators, as this affected their daily collections. The source said some of the aggrieved public transport operators had already filed a formal complaint with the police and Road Transportation Board (RTB), about the public transport vehicles which operated outside their designated routes.
The source mentioned that the operators highlighted that they had been lenient with these public transport vehicles, in particular those that operated along routes where the public road was upgraded, like the Siteki/ Moneni route.
He said it was understandable that due to the upgrading of the MR3 Highway, it was impossible for public transport vehicles or any car to make a U-turn at Moneni, as the road was a highway and it had a concrete barrier in-between the lanes.
Therefore, he said they did not have a problem when they saw the public transport vehicles entering the bus rank to drop off passengers and exit. However, he said the problem started when the public transport vehicles joined the queue to rank at the bus rank.
He said the aggrieved operators agreed to inform the law enforcers and RTB before they could implement their plan of grounding the bus rank.
He said they believed that if the operations of the bus rank would be affected, the police and RTB would take action against the public transport vehicles which operated there without a permit.
Standstill
When asked how the operators were planning to put operations to a standstill at the bus rank, the source said their plan included working with public transport workers and others hinted on parking their vehicles, if proper action would not be taken by the relevant structures.
On the other hand, Deputy Police Information and Communications Officer Assistant Superintendent Nosipho Mnguni said there were public transport operators who approached the traffic department at Manzini Police Station and delivered a letter of complaint, which they copied to the RTB.