PARLY DEBATE ON BUS FARE HIKE EXPECTED TOMORROW

MANZINI – The issue of the proposed review of bus fares will be tabled and discussed in Parliament, if the words of Sihlangu Nhlabatsi are anything to go by.

The industry wants to hike bus fares  by Wbetween five and 62 per cent, depending on the distance. This was revealed during a special meeting for the public transport industry, which was held at Swazi Commercial Amadoda Hall yesterday. The meeting was attended by representatives from the Swaziland Local Transport Association (SLTA), Manzini Kombi and Minibus Association, Lubombo Kombi and Minibus Association and Eswatini Kombi and Minibus Association, to mention a few.

Ambrose Dlamini, the National Secretary General of SLTA informed the meeting that they heard that there was an order paper which stated that the matter would be discussed in Parliament tomorrow. However, he said as an executive, they were not sure about it. Thereafter, he mentioned that he had communicated with the former Chairman of the National Road Transport Council (NRTC), Sihlangu Nhlabatsi, about it and he agreed to go past Parliament to verify the developments. Later on Nhlabatsi, arrived at the meeting and after some arguments; the former NRTC chairman was given an opportunity to address the leaders of the associations about the information he had obtained in Parliament. He said he found the said order paper.

Thereafter, he mentioned that he asked to see the Speaker in the House of Assembly, Petros Mavimbela. He said the speaker informed him that the matter would be discussed on Wednesday (tomorrow) as it would be tabled as an addendum. However, some of the leaders of the associations raised a concern as to why such information came at a time when they were having a special meeting. They also asked if Nhlabatsi had proof to substantiate what he had just told them and he responded to the negative. It was then that some of them said they smelt a rat. In fact, they suspected that this could be a ploy to derail them from their plans. In response, Nhlabatsi told them that he had tried to take a picture of what the speaker supposedly showed him when they talked about the matter, but the latter refused. Instead, he alleged that the speaker told him that he would rather call and put the cellphone on loudspeaker when he was in the meeting so that he could confirm the developments.

However, Nhlabatsi was not asked to call the speaker. Thereafter, the meeting agreed that they should wait and see what would happen tomorrow and then they would take it from there.
Others suggested that they should take a resolution and increase the bus fares  by at least E5 across the board, and elect a select committee that would inform government about the decision. They suggested that the select committee would also engage government on the proposed bus fares, while they would be charging passengers an extra amount. They argued that passengers understood that fuel prices had increased drastically and if the bus fares were not increased, public transport might cease to operate.

At the end, they agreed that they should elect the select committee so that it could engage government on the matter, while waiting to see what would happen in Parliament tomorrow. The secretary general argued that they could not just increase bus fares because they were regulated. On the other hand, some of the leaders of the associations said it was high time that they did away with the current process which goes via Parliament to increase bus fares. Their argument was that this process was taking long. In fact, they said they should find a way to remove the issue of bus fares from being regulated by government. One of them made an example with cross-border vehicles. He said currently, a trip from Manzini to Johannesburg was E270, but soon, after a few phone calls to relevant stakeholders, mainly South African counterparts; it could be increased to E300.

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