Public transport owners to incorporate new salaries
MANZINI – Public transport owners will incorporate the newly-increased salaries of their employees in their proposed fare hike.
Following the 13.5 per cent increment, which was awarded at the beginning of the month, public transport owners claim that it is an expenditure that will worsen their situation, as they have not been breaking even.
The public transport operators, who had started the process of seeking a bus fare hike by recruiting a consultancy to engage in the computing of the proposed increment, said they had requested that the process should start afresh, in light of the salary increase for their employees.
Sources within the public transport industry said the reasoning for the request to start afresh the process was that their expenditure had been increased again.
Backdrop
Initially, sources last year said the proposed transport fare hike was 50 per cent, which was at the backdrop of a similar demand in March 2022 where they (public transport owners) presented a proposal which sought to hike the fares for short distances by 65 per cent.
It is worth noting that at various meetings, public transport owners have emphasised that geo-politics had played a role in the escalating of prices in products used in their industry. They supposed that fuel had hiked at various instances while their prices have remained stagnant. The sources further claimed that their loan repayments had hiked extensively due to the prime rates increment in the past months. The National Secretary General of the Swaziland Local Transport Association (SLTA), Ambrose Dlamini, confirmed that his association had engaged on the matter.
Dlamini said the process was handed over to the National Road Transportation Council (NRTC), which shall be auctioning it at the quickest speed given the challenges they were experiencing in the sector.
He said: “It is true that we’ve requested
that they work with the consultancy to engage in the costing of the best price hike which will make us break even.”
Dlamini said their reasoning was aligned to their operational costs being reviewed upwards following the increase in the fuel price and also the publication of the revised salaries of employees in the logistics industry.
On the other hand, newly appointed National Road Transport Council (NRTC) Sabelo Dlamini said the issue was presented to them and they shall be meeting next week to start working on it.
It is worth noting that Sabelo has been appointed to lead the NRTC following that its chairperson was voted into Parliament by the Gege Constituency. He replaces Magesi Dlamini.
Meanwhile, Sabelo said the mandate from public transport owners was that they should now incorporate the constant fuel price hike, new remuneration structure and also the cost of spares which,
just like fuel, is influenced by geo-politics. “In the meeting next week, we shall be outlining the terms of reference (TORs) to the committee which shall be set to work with the consultants on the new hike,” he said.
Debate
Sabelo said public transport owners have also proposed that their proposed hikes should not be presented to politicians in Parliament for debate but instead, there should be a committee set to deal with them regularly. He said the public transport owners argued that the process of having bus fares debated in Parliament after they had submitted them to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport was a lengthy process.
Sabelo said the owners claimed that the process extended to periods which at instances, were as long as six months which resulted in some businesses going under.
Also, he said the public transport owners argued that at instances proposed a fragmented increment when they seek 50 per cent while their costs were not partitioned by their suppliers; hence the need to have a committee which should be set to review transport fares as per the need.
It is worth noting that in July 2022, public transport owners threatened to ground the economy as fuel prices were steep, following the escalated tension between Russia and Ukraine. As such, they were demanding that government should minimise fuel taxes by 50 per cent.
The taxes which play a role in the consumer price include the fuel levy remitted to Sincephetelo Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (SMVAF) at 42 cents per litre, Eswatini National Oil Company (ENPC) levy of 35 cents per litre, the fuel oil levy at 50 cents per litre and the fuel tax E3.85. In total, the taxes amount to E5.12 per litre.
Meanwhile, following the proposed increment of public transport fares, Swaziland Consumer Forum (SWACOF) Chairperson Mandla Ntshakala said consumers were worse off as things were given the high inflation and the high rate of unemployment.
“The increments are just making the cost-of-living to be exorbitant in this country while there is a minimal source of income,” the chairperson said.
He said government should utilise economists to analyse how basic commodities increase and how it can be somehow controlled.
He said whenever there was fuel hike, prices of most other basic commodities increased.
This, he said, had an adverse impact on all people and worse people needed public transport to look for employment, among other things.
On the other hand, an economist suggested that public transport should look into owning the value chain so that they could also have control in some of their expenditure.
The economist said public transport operators should revise their business model and look into having their association’s running fuel stations and also spare shops.
Trickle
This, he said, would assist them in having diverse streams of income in the industry, which would still trickle back to the public transport owners as form of dividends. He said as much as commodities were increasing drastically due to the geo-politics, the public transport owners should also maximise their operations, such that kombis depart from the bus ranks fully loaded instead of exiting it partially loaded, which resulted in minimal collections.
He said the same model should be adopted by buses as well; such that the passengers who boarded along the way were an addition to a high number of people aboard.
This, the economist said, was needed in order to cut costs and also ensuring that they did not lose clients as most people were barely coping with their basic needs in the current state of the economy.
The economist said commuters should also look into cutting their expenditure by forming lift clubs, instead of having people working within the same radius using five different vehicles to their place of employment.
This, he said, would not only assist in helping them minimise their travel costs; but it would also contribute towards fighting global warming as lesser fumes would be released into the ozone layer.