I BOARDED a kombi (mini-bus) from Matsheumhlope to the city centre in Bulawayo. I was desperate to get there fast. You see, when you stay in this part of the city, you just don’t board kombis as a matter of principle.
The reason is that the kombi crews are more than often uncouth. Apart from charging you a rand more they will not travel as far as City Hall which is the most convenient drop off point.
People here prefer private taxis. In fact, “pirate taxi” is the correct nomenclature. They are fast and friendly never mind the fact that they are plying the route illegally.
To cut a long story short, I board the kombi with trepidation and it takes off . . . literally.
The speed of the vehicle does not match its condition which is ramshackle for lack of a more civilised word to describe it.
The driver is visibly jittery and is speaking in tongues to his incredibly scruffy tout. It sounds something like amahata amahata which when translated refers to the police.
It does not take long to realise that these are “dissidents” known in kombi lingua franca as amadizola.
For the uninitiated in the commuter world, amadizola are kombis that are unregistered and will steal any route that seems lucrative. Being unregulated, they are death traps. Just like this one.
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Flying past the first set of traffic lights (robots to you) I and the rest of the petrified passengers realise that they are not prepared to tolerate impediments.
However, we are to discover the reason behind the manoeuvre.
Because soon after passing visibly red robots the kombi takes a sudden turn into the unbranded Zuva fuel station at the former Jaggers, now Fazak Home Centre.
You should understand the frustration of passengers. Why refuel now of all times when we are in a hurry to get to wherever we are going?
It’s a common feeling that only commuters understand.
It seems illogical, but try and explain the meaning of the word logic to a kombi driver and his obstinate tout.
The jittery driver motions the tout to get the fuel attendant the money. The guy must be on drugs or something.
Unperturbed, the tout takes out a bunch of filthy notes (Obama will definitely not like this) and selects $2. You read me right; t-w-o dollars and, without batting an eyelid, hands it to the attendant!
Now, we know that in Zimbabwe the value of the United States currency is seriously overstated.
Economists explain this phenomenon as hangover from the days when we were scrapping the barrel and the ill-fated Zimdollar scrambled out brains as calculations and values went haywire.
Here we were, a kombi full of passengers, all having paid their dues and this not being crews’ first trip no doubt.
And the tout buys $2 worth of fuel! What was more shocking if not laughable, was the expressionless fuel attendant who received the two dollars with both hands and proceeded to “fill her up!”
I mean we know that there is a cash crunch and all, people.
But $2 worth of fuel and they were not topping up! Hayi ah! Anyway we got to town in one piece on $2 worth of fuel.
It speaks volumes about the sorry state of our economy and the level of desperation in the populace.
Which brings me to a topic that has been raging in the news and social media of late; that of police, spikes and errant kombi drivers.
There are so many versions of the accident that occurred a couple of weeks ago when a kombi that was attempting to avoid a roadblock overturned with its passengers when “overzealous” officers threw spikes in its path.
What is instructive about this story was that it was first broken in the social media.
The problem with social media is that it provides little space for analysis or verification of facts.
By its very nature it is restrictive and prone to sensationalism.
In the furore that followed, the facts were overshadowed by public anger which was directed at the police.
What of the kombi driver whose errant behaviour led to a chain of events that culminated in that unfortunate accident? The facts are that the kombi driver was underage (he is 23 instead of 25), He had earlier loaded passengers at an undesignated point, The kombi is not registered to any route within the city, He defied police orders on more than three occasions and evaded two roadblocks. He also endangered the lives of his passengers through reckless driving and speeding, He should have stopped when police threw spikes on the road. So who is wrong here? The burden of responsibility overwhelmingly lies on the kombi driver. If there was anyone who should have been beaten up, it was him.
My only gripe was the insensitive comments attributed to the police spokesman Inspector Mandlenkosi Moyo that stirred up public outrage.
We should choose our words carefully. Lenox Mhlanga is a social commentator
