JUSTICE minister Ziyambi Ziyambi and Local government deputy minister Marian Chombo were grilled by legislators over the continuing Zupco monopoly which they say is exacerbating transport shortages for urban commuters.
The government enforced Zupco’s transport monopoly in 2020 through Statutory Instrument (SI) 83 of 2020 as a way to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
Responding to questions from legislators, Ziyambi said transport woes were a result of sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.
“Urban transportation worldwide is with the local authority or local government and the issue is about the management of that particular transportation system which must be enhanced.
“Our urban transportation system started declining when sanctions were imposed on us. The problem that we had is, in any business you need to retool and ensure that you renew your fleet,” Ziyambi.
“On the backdrop that everything having been equal, we should have developed our transport system to a level that we would marvel at.”
He said President Emmerson Mnangagwa had embarked on a programme to ensure that there were new buses for Zupco.
“We are having collaborations and partnerships, joint ventures to ensure that we have buses assembled in Zimbabwe. All this is being done to ensure that we ease the transportation challenge. So, the issue is not where the local municipal transportation system is housed but to ensure that we have adequate reliable buses within our roads,” Ziyambi said.
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