IN the heart of Harare’s central business district, a culture of lawlessness and corruption pervades, as pirate taxi operators and law enforcement agents engage in a game of cat and mouse.
The pirate taxi operators, known as mshikashika, load their vehicles anywhere across town, but mostly at busy intersections, yet keeping an eye for raids by police officers or municipal police.
If caught, the mshikashika drivers are quick to go into negotiations with the “arresting” officers so that their vehicles are not towed to the Charge Office or to council’s Central Stores, which is usually accompanied by a tardy, taxing and tiresome process.
Amid the chaos, police officers are creating unholy alliances with law breakers.
They are demanding bribes so that they turn a blind eye to those caught disregarding road rules and regulations, an investigation by Truth Diggers, an Alpha Media Holdings investigative unit, has revealed.
Truth Diggers spent the better part of last week moving around the Harare central business district filming cases of traffic rules violations and conducting on-the-record interviews with mshikashika operators.
At an illegal pick-up point along Sam Nujoma Street, between Josiah Tongogara and Herbert Chitepo avenues, despite the zone being clearly marked “No Stopping” and “Hitchhiking prohibited”, the area is quite busy as passengers seek to get transport to their respective destinations.
In the less than 1km stretch, six newly-erected signs boldly prohibit picking up or dropping of passengers, but these warnings are deliberately ignored.
- Harare cancels Pomona waste deal
- Devolution gains remain a mirage
- Harare cancels Pomona waste deal
- Pomona saga: Harare handed shock US$750k ‘garbage’ bill
Keep Reading
As Truth Diggers got to the area at around midday, buses, kombis, including those run by the Zimbabwe United Passengers’ Company (Zupco) and private vehicles being used as pirate taxis, were stopping and canvassing for passengers bound for Mazowe, Bindura, Mvurwi, Centenary and Chiweshe in Mashonaland Central province.
The zone resembled a mini Mbare bus terminus, forcing motorists to use two lanes on the four-lane street.
As Truth Diggers pretended to look for transport at the illegal terminus, a ZRP officer and a municipal police officer approached and the expectation was that the cat-and-mouse drama was about to begin.
But alas, that was not the case.
The two law enforcement agents passed by the transporters after a brief, inaudible chat, without taking any action to enforce the law.
But as the Truth Diggers reporters were questioning themselves why the police had not taken action, the two officers approached the journalists.
They quizzed why the journalists were taking videos. In response, the journalists identified themselves as accredited journalists.
One of the police officers insisted that the two journalists had filmed him together with his colleague as they were passing by the pirating kombi.
“Let’s just talk this over, guys,” the police officer (who was identified) said, his voice filled with a mix of fear and anxiety, as he tried to persuade the reporters to delete the footage.
“Basa rinogona kupera (I can lose my job),” he pleaded, with a sense of desperation, seemingly trying to avoid being exposed for his complicit in the pirate taxi menace.
Meanwhile, the municipal police officer stood beside him, his arms folded, but his eyes betraying a hint of unease.
The investigation also revealed further, a pattern of seemingly peaceful interactions between police and pirate taxis at illegal pick-up points at Simon Muzenda, Copacabana, Market Square and Rezende bus termini.
At these hotspots, police officers would often pat the touts on the back or engage in friendly banter, creating an atmosphere of camaraderie and shared interests, Truth Diggers observed.
At the corner of Nelson Mandela Avenue and Rezende Street, for instance, dozens of pirate taxis parked along the road, competing for passengers with registered kombi operators who were forced to operate from designated termini.
This scenario reads the same across the city, with pirate taxis competing with registered kombi operators, creating chaos and disorder on the roads.
Truth Diggers quizzed a bus crew along Second Street why they were picking up passengers on a restricted spot. The crew, unfazed by the probe, laughed off.
“We can’t go to the authorised bus termini,” one of the crew members who agreed to comment on condition of anonymity explained.
“We pay lots of money there in compliance fees and we will be making a loss.”
He went on to reveal the shocking details behind the pirate taxi industry.
“We pay for access to the legal termini to the city council, valid for a month,” he said.
“The fee is receipted. But we then pay for the other people who control the termini for us to load passengers on a daily basis.
“There is also a rise in demand for protection fees, where different people demand payment to protect us against possible threats of clamping and impounding of our vehicles.
“This is despite the fact that we would have made a payment to the local authority. But pano apa kanzuru tatopedzerana nayo kudhara (Here we have struck a deal with the council already).”
Harare City Council spokesperson Stanley Gama described the claims as “absurd” and demanded proof that the pirate taxis pay council officials a “fee” for them to be exempted from the ongoing clampdown on illegal operations.
“First, it is surely absurd, malicious and a total lie that the city council has a deal with illegal transport operators,” Gama said.
“What kind of a deal is that? Please avail the deal which was signed so that we verify its authenticity.
“No such deal ever existed, no such deal exists and no such deal will ever exist with the City of Harare.
“Why would the City of Harare agree on a deal to sanitise criminal behaviour and lawlessness?”
He said the fight against pirate taxis was not a one-day event, but “it’s a process and eventually we will win the war”.
However, despite the denial, municipal police officer Farai Matewere on Thursday revealed that the council has been collecting US$1 500 daily from illegal commuter operators, but the funds were not reaching council coffers.
Matewere was testifying before a commission of inquiry led by retired High Court judge Justice Mathias Cheda to investigate governance issues at the local authority since 2017.
Matewere told the commission that he was assigned by the council to collect money from kombi operators at bus termini in the CBD, which include Rezende, Market Square, Charge Office and Copacabana.
“The actual dates I don’t remember, but we did that for about two months,” Matewere said.
“Each kombi paid US$1 per entry.”
Zupco spokesperson Sthandisile Moyo requested questions in writing, but had not responded by the time of going to print.
The uncontrolled behaviour of pirate taxis has resulted in traffic jams in the CBD, especially during peak hours.
One notorious point of reference is the intersection of Robert Mugabe and Julius Nyerere Way where mshikashika operators facing east pick up passengers going to places such as Msasa, Mabvuku, Tafara and Ruwa and those facing south pick up passengers going to Chitungwiza.
The roads are congested with vehicles moving at a snail’s pace as pirate taxis and private vehicles compete for space.
The driving habits of pirate taxi operators are an eyesore.
They make sudden lane changes, disregard traffic lights and sometimes drive against oncoming traffic.
Overloading is also common, with passengers packed tightly inside and touts clinging at the back of moving kombis, putting their lives at risk.
The situation has become so dire that street kids, some as young as 10 years old, have taken it upon themselves to control traffic at intersections, and get freebies from well-wishers despite the risks.
Pedestrians also add to the chaos, often jaywalking or crossing roads even when pedestrian crossing traffic lights are red.
Compliant private transporters decried the continued operation of pirate taxis.
“We have engaged council officials at the highest level to ensure compliant operators are protected from mshikashika operators,” Greater Harare Association of Commuter Omnibus Operators chairperson Ngoni Katsvairo said.
“These operators are taking away business from us who would have paid for all government and council operating papers.
“The cost of operating a kombi is very high due to many compliance requirements, thus once one is compliant, they need to be protected by those we give revenue to.”
Efforts to get a comment from the police were in vain as national police spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi had not yet responded to questions sent in writing.
