Touts set up ‘bush tollgates’ as COVID-19 lockdown bites

TOUTS in Karoi are setting up bush “tollgates”, where they force drivers avoiding police roadblocks to pay for passage as they seek ways to combat the economic challenges that befell them when government banned pirate taxis due to COVID-19.

Touts, who load passengers for illegal pirate taxis, commonly known as mushikashika, have been struggling to put food on the table and pay rentals after government banned pirate taxis.

The touts have created illegal checkpoints along detour roads passing through farms used by drivers evading Zimbabwe National Road Administration tollgates as well as police roadblocks.

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