THERE are many questions being raised by ratepayers about the services of the Tendy Three Investment (TTI), a parking management company contracted by the Bulawayo City Council, than answers.
This is due to the harassment of motorists by the company’s enforcement teams.
Despite this ill-fated conduct of its officers in which they raise funds through clamping and parking fee payments, the city’s road infrastructure including the parking bays are still in a sorry state, even after more than a year since the company took over parking management.
The concerns are that what they are only quick to do is to buy yellow and white paint to mark the parking bays so as to collect more money from motorists, who are already over-burdened by Zimbabwe National Roads Administration licence fees and council bills.
Since many motorists are now avoiding parking in the city centre, this is prompting the money-mongering TTI to spread its parking bay markings to outlying areas of the city, where many motorists now resort to parking to evade paying huge amounts. TTI follows them in efforts to get more money whose use has not been made clear to the concerned motorists.
However, despite the fact that parking in the central business district (CBD) has always been paid for, even before TTI came in and motorists had no problems with the city security officers, because they respected motorists and related well with them on parking issues, the conduct of the enforcement officers of TTI resembles that of the Nigerian terrorist group — Boko Haram — who are not merciful even to the most innocent beings.
They clamp cars even where there are no clear offences, they create offences which are not even supported by the by-laws. They have become a thorn in the flesh of peaceful and law-abiding citizens as they abuse their powers.
This raises the question as to whether TTI is an anti-citizens organisation or a people serving company. It seems to be more concerned about collecting money from helpless motorists, yet nothing in terms of road rehabilitation in the city takes from those funds.
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People wonder why council had to engage such an anti-people organisation when it has all the resources to do the job in a respectable manner. These people do not respect the sources of their income, they harass motorists forgetting that their revenue comes from those motorists parking their cars on the roads they never constructed.
These roads were constructed from the funds that residents were paying to council and Zinara even before TTI came. Why do they terrorise motorists for parking on roads that they never contributed to their construction?
When motorists complain about the abuse by TTI enforcement teams, I used to think that people were just negative towards the company until they pounced on me recently.
I came face-to-face with a TTI enforcement team at the doorway of my workplace where I always park, which is a free parking zone. I parked in front of the office and got in.
When I came back to start the car, it could not start, so I opened the bonnet to check if my battery was still properly positioned. When I opened the bonnet, a few minutes after, while pressing the terminals on the battery, my car was all of a sudden surrounded by the guys in orange and blue uniform, who accused me of repairing a car on the bay. They did not ask me what was happening.
They clamped my car. In the process I tried to stop them, but one of them threatened to tow the car away if I tried to resist.
When I explained that I was just reconnecting my battery that had gotten loose, they listened to none of it. When I asked what should I have done when my car battery got loose and I needed to press the terminal for it to start so that I drive away, the merciless answer was: “You should have towed it to the garage to do that.”
With his knowledge seemingly only limited to clamping the cars for what he thinks were offences, opening the car bonnet on the bay, for him means one is repairing it. This means even if you open the car to top up engine oil, water, brake fluid or steering fluid it is the same as repairing the car on the bay.
Looking at his thinking, it means even when a car tyre punctures on the bay one has to tow it to the garage to fix it. This was the absurd explanation I got from the enforcement officer.
I always believed that most of the cars I saw clamped in the city had committed genuine offences until this encounter which led me to believe that the majority of the victims of the clamping spree by TTI end up parting with their hard-earned money because of the unjust clamping activities.
After they clamped my car, I visited their supervisor at Fidelity Building where I found more than 10 motorists with similar cases complain to the bosses.
In my view it is necessary for the enforcement teams to have a human face and seek to understand the position of offenders before clamping, but as overzealous as they are, that does not exist in their world.
When I went to see the supervisor, a woman she said: ”I have nothing to do with this, I cannot help.” A sign that the organisation does not respect humans and does not listen to complaints. I then asked to see the human resources manager and I was told he was not there until Monday, so I went to pay the US$30 fine at the Revenue Hall.
My observation based on the number of people I found at TTI offices complaining about clamping on the day, more than 15 cars had been clamped at around 11am in the proximity of my workplace in the CBD.
I even heard one of the guys who clamped my car phoning another, telling him of the number of cars he had clamped and boasting about it.
We call upon those councillors who are going to take over council after August 23 to cancel this unfair contract and revert to the old parking management system.-Concerned resident
Proactive collaboration needed to realise benefits of AfCFTA
REALISING the benefits and opportunities of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) requires proactive collaboration between all levels of government and businesses, says director of Africa Bilateral Economic Trade at the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, Calvin Phume.
The workshop was part of a nationwide series aimed at equipping export-ready South African Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs), private sector, women and youth-owned enterprises with knowledge on the benefits of trading under AfCFTA,
AfCFTA is a flagship project of the African Union (AU)’s Agenda 2063 and aims to build an integrated market anchored on development integration.
It seeks to enhance intra-African trade through progressive elimination of tariffs, introduction of rules to manage non-tariff barriers among other things, opening up vast markets of over 1,3 billion people and a combined gross domestic product of over US$3,4 trillion.
Phume said beyond the policy transformation and reforms, the AfCFTA sought to ensure inclusivity of women and youth, including youth in the rural areas, development of SMMEs and overall industrialisation of the continent.
“Africa has the youngest population in the world, with 70% of the population under the age of 30. Women make significant contributions to cross-border trade in many African countries.
“However, women and young people face challenges such as underemployment, lack of opportunities and other structural and financial challenges that hinder their ability to trade.
“The AU assembly took a cautious decision to also include the Protocol on Women and Youth in Trade on the agreement.”
Phume said AfCFTA encouraged innovation, fostered competition and promoted the development of value-chains, thereby spurring industrialisation and job creation across sectors.-Further Africa
