Times Of Swaziland: COMMUTERS STRANDED AS KOMBI WORKERS PROTEST

COMMUTERS STRANDED AS KOMBI WORKERS PROTEST
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 BY STANLEY KHUMALO on 26/08/2020 06:07:00


MANZINI – Scores of pupils and workers commuting between Mbabane and Manzini
were left stranded yesterday morning as kombi drivers and conductors refused to
work.
The drivers and their conductors gathered at the exit point of the Manzini Bus
Rank and barricaded the entrance, refusing any vehicle servicing the Mbabane and
Manzini route to leave the terminal point.
This was as early as 6:30am.
Public transport vehicles that were seeking to gain entry into the bus rank to
offload passengers, were ordered to park at the section of the bus rank usually
used by cross-border kombis.
Controlling this was a group of over 40 conductors and drivers. The rowdy crowd
sang songs and whistled each time they saw a vehicle servicing the
aforementioned route and pointed it to where the other vehicles were already
stationed.
Baffled
The behaviour of the crowd left many people baffled while others hastened to
walk past them. As the disorder was ongoing, the conductors permitted other
vehicles to service their routes. This was after they removed rocks that had
been used to block the road leading into and out of the Manzini Bus Rank.
The rocks had been stacked across the road by the kombi workers, blocking any
vehicle from gaining entry into the bus terminal.
While the protest was ongoing, a high number of passengers who sought to travel
to Mbabane from the bus rank were left stranded.  Some noted that the entrance
of the bus rank was barricaded and opted to use bus stops like the one at Green
Valley towards Mavuso Trade and Exhibition Centre to get transport.
While this was happening, some members of the Royal Eswatini Police Service
(REPS), under the Traffic Department, were drawn to the crowd. They maintained
order and allowed vehicles from other routes to operate freely.
Agreement
According to impeccable sources, the feud that culminated in the protest
followed that the Manzini and Mbabane branches of the Swaziland Local Transport
Association (SLTA) had not reached an agreement in the manner in which to
operate.
It was gathered that kombi operators that are registered under Manzini demanded
that all their vehicles should be allowed to operate while those in Mbabane were
of the view that only 50 per cent of the total number of kombis servicing the
route should work.
It was gathered that about 130 kombis service this route.
Ever since the country was said to be in a state of national emergency, a
rotational schedule for the loading of public service vehicles was introduced.
The schedule permits half the number of vehicles to service their routes on a
rotational basis, for four days apiece.
This resulted in some kombi operators complaining that the rotational schedule
exposed them to litigation as there was a high probability that their vehicles
would be repossessed due to failure to honour their credit facility commitments
with financiers.
The Secretary General of the Manzini Branch of SLTA, Sabelo Dlamini, confirmed
that the kombi drivers and conductors in Manzini downed tools in the morning
yesterday.
He said: “The challenge is that some of the kombi owners are not seeing
eye-to-eye on the logistics of operations. Some of the owners want 50 per cent
of the vehicles to operate while others seek that all of them should resume
operating in the normal way.”
Dlamini explained that the challenge was that operating through the use of the
schedule was no longer functional given the fact that the economy had been
opened up and all sectors were operating. Under normal circumstances, all kombis
operated through a list that was deemed fair to all.
Schedule
Dlamini said due to the rotational schedule introduced when the country went on
partial lockdown, there were fewer people who were travelling as masses were
encouraged to stay at home.
However, now that the economy was fully operational, Dlamini said kombi
operators claimed that working four days on rotational basis destabilised their
operations as the money tendered by the kombi drivers was hard to justify.
“The kombi operators feel that being regulated to operate on a schedule does
not help them as there is no compensation.” On the other hand, the protest was
thwarted through the intervention of the police and the National Executive of
SLTA. This was around 9:30am.