Readers' Views

Traffic police, whose side are you on?

IT IS a fact that the bulk of Zimbabwe’s productive workforce uses commuter omnibuses to their various workplaces.

It is, however, sad to note that productive time is being wasted when the kombis we travel in are held up unnecessarily at the numerous roadblocks.

It is a nightmare for the Zimbabwean worker who uses public transport from Chitungwiza into the capital Harare and I believe the same is true for workers in other areas. When the police arrest a kombi, have they also arrested the passengers? This is a question that we as commuters need answered because in many cases we are held up at the roadblock for over 30 minutes, in the process killing productive time.

More often, it seems police do not even care about the dire situation that we passengers find ourselves in when they detain kombis at roadblock. Isn’t there a swift ticketing system whereby the faulty kombi driver pays for his offence without delaying the innocent passenger who will be going to work for the nation?

What is the logic of having three road blocks within a 5 kilometre radius?

That is what we Chitungwiza commuters are facing daily, it has become a struggle to get to our workplaces. Imagine this scenario. The kombi is stopped just before St Mary’s Police Station and the passenger is frustrated for close to 30 minutes.

There is another roadblock just after the Manyame Bridge which is less than a kilometre away and once again the kombi is stopped for another 20 or so minutes. You get to the Airport area and you find another roadblock and when you think the nightmare is over another roadblock surfaces at the Pa MaOrange area just before Maruta Shopping centre.

If you add up the stoppages and multi- ply by the number of passengers delayed you will find that a significant number of productive hours are lost at these roadblocks.

Yes, the police have the mandate to protect the lives of passengers by ensuring operators adhere to rules but can’t this be done with the passenger in mind?

Imagine, after wasting valuable time on the road the passenger wastes more time queuing for cash at the bank and more production time is lost.

While we acknowledge that those who are responsible for attending to this issue drive comfortably in their Ford Rangers, it is my hope that they also consider kuti tirikudawo zvikuru kushandira nyika.

Kupedzerwa nguva pama road block is the worst sabotage to our economy.

Police authorities, please do something about this menace. Concerned Chitungwiza Passenger