PUBLIC TRANSPORT WORKERS CLASH OVER ROUTES, 1 STABBED

MBABANE – Yesterday, public transport came to standstill at Nkoyoyo as the sector’s workers serving Nkoyoyo and Mpolonjeni routes clashed.

The clash was over routes and operating channels. The public transport workers, who are servicing the Mbabane – Nkoyoyo route blocked the road from Mpolonjeni to Mbabane by parking their vehicles in the middle of the road. They parked their vehicles on the road from Mpolonjeni, just below the Nkoyoyo Bus Rank before the T-junction leading to Mbabane.

Intervene

Police were called to intervene after one of the public transport workers was stabbed, allegedly by a rival collegue. It was gathered that the worker, after stabbing the other, fled the scene. The police arrived at the scene armed. Motorists who wanted to drive through could not do so until the arrival of the police, who reasoned with the workers to allow the public to use the road.

According to one of the workers, who elected to comment on condition of anonymity, their gripe was that the Mpolonjeni route workers took all the customers. *Ngcebo narrated that the Mpolonjeni workers did not want the Nkoyoyo route workers to reach a certain stop known as KaTsela. Instead, they want them to make a U-turn at the Nkoyoyo Bus Rank near Channel YemaSwati. “This is despite the fact that they (Mpolonjeni route workers) take customers along the way, even at KaTsela and the rank,” he said. Ngcebo stated that the Mpolonjeni workers would even overload their vehicles by loading customers at Nkoyoyo. He said it was for this reason that the Nkoyoyo workers blocked the road.

The public transport workers also confirmed that one kombi driver was stabbed by another from Mpolonjeni, who then ran away after the other workers attempted to retaliate. He said the worker who stabbed the driver made things worse because the other Nkoyoyo workers vowed to search and find him. Ngcebo stated that the driver sustained a minor injury from the stabbing.  During a visit to the scene at around 1pm, the public transport workers had still blocked the road. Police were seen trying to engage them, pleading for calm.

Meet

The police pleaded with the workers to meet with those from Mpolonjeni to talk things through and sort the matter. Chairperson of the Eswatini Local Kombis Association in the Hhohho Region Tom Mkhwanazi said he was aware of what transpired at Nkoyoyo yesterday. He said what happened was very unfortunate and it happened while they were not expecting it, more especially because the association had tried to engage the workers from both sides in a bid to resolve the matter. Mkhwanazi said the issue had been ongoing for quite some time now.
The chairperson said what needed to happen was that it should be clear whether the stop at KaTsela fell under Nkoyoyo or Mpolonjeni. Mkhwanazi said today, the police and officials from the Ministry of Public Works and Transport would go to Nkoyoyo to meet the workers and the owners of the vehicles to discuss the matter. He said that was where guidelines for the routes would be set in order to end this fight.

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