POLICE TO NOW ESCORT DING DONG BUSES

MBABANE – Imagine being on board a bus that is escorted by a convoy of traffic police officers?

Such will soon become a reality for passengers of the bus operating under the style name Ding Dong Transport, as the Manzini Bus Association and the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, together with the Mbabane traffic police officers reached an agreement yesterday that the bus will be escorted by police officers during their daily operations. The bus services the Mbabane-Manzini-Mahlanya route.

This agreement is a culmination of a meeting that was held at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport offices in Mbabane. 

Blocked

This arrangement, according to the parties involved, was intended to avoid the occurrence of an uproar similar to the one that was experienced recently at the Mbabane bus rank, whereby one of  the vehicles was blocked from entering or leaving the bus rank on allegations that legal procedures were not followed when obtaining their permit to service the route.

The disorder ensued when livid bus conductors blocked the road with four garbage containers and stones, when the brown and white Ding Dong vehicle made an entry at the bus terminal.

Police officers arrived at the scene as the behaviour was a clear defiance of the interim court order that was issued by the High Court.
One conductor was caught by the police, but a marshal stepped in to mediate as the mayhem could not be attributed to one person. He was able to resist arrest and walked away with a minor foot injury.

On March 25, 2019, the High Court ruled in favour of the bus owner, Jabulani Mbuso Gulwako, by way of an interim order interdicting the marshals and the Mbabane Branch Swaziland Local Kombi Association from interfering with the smooth operations of the bus.

This was after he had filed an urgent application seeking an order that the association be interdicted from interfering with the operations of the bus.
The reason Gulwako filed an urgent application, was because the bus rank marshals and conductors were questioning how an operating permit had been issued in respect of the two buses.

Their contention was that the route was said to be saturated and the issuing of permits had been suspended indefinitely.

Resolution

During the meeting yesterday, a resolution was made that traffic police officers from Mbabane would be deployed at the rank to ensure a safe operation of the buses on a daily basis.
It was agreed that the law enforcers would escort the buses all the way from Mangwaneni when coming from Manzini  to the Mbabane bus rank and then from the bus rank back to Mangwaneni.  

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