BUS OWNERS: GOVT MUST FACE THE ‘COMMANDER’

MANZINI - Concerned bus owners have called upon government to face the ‘commander’ and in the meantime give them assurance that it will compensate them should vehicles be burnt.

The concerned bus owners, who are organised under the banner of the Swaziland Bus Association, said this during their urgent meeting, which was held at Manzini Public Library yesterday.

During the meeting, which was chaired by Swaziland Bus Association Chairman Duma Msibi, the bus owners from the four regions of the country discussed three issues; December 12, 2022 court order, public transport permits and status of the National Road Transport Council (NRTC). While discussing the issue of the court order, some of them were of the view that the real issue that they should be discussing was a way forward regarding what would happen next year when the incarcerated Members of Parliament (MPs), Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza of Hosea and Mthandeni Dube of Ngwempisi returned to court for their ongoing case, starting from January 13, 2023.

Frustrating

They said instead of frustrating their businesses and threatening to revoke their permits, government should face the ‘commander’. It is worth noting that so far, the commander remains unknown and faceless. However, the concerned bus owners said according to their analysis of events, they believed government knew who the ‘commander’ was. The bus owners said this was because government knew the channels which the ‘commander’ use to pass his messages. They argued that they could not release their vehicles to work under the ‘commander’s threats, which they took seriously as the nation had seen things he/she was capable of doing. In fact, they highlighted that two public transport vehicles; a bus and a kombi, were burnt at Bethany in Malkerns during the civil unrest last year.

One of them highlighted that the matter was political and as businesspeople, they did not speak politics. However, he said they were discussing it because they were concerned about the safety of their vehicles and their businesses. In that regard, he said they had to discuss the matter because on January 13, 2023, the MPs’ case would return to court for continuation of trial and they had to have a plan in place. They said they were alive to the fact that not only do people use public transport to go to work, but thousands needed it to visit health facilities for their medication and to shops to buy food since they could not take their drugs on empty stomachs.

Vehicles

They said it was in that regard that they wanted to work, but unfortunately, the situation was not safe for their vehicles to operate and their workers also had concerns about their safety. Therefore, they said if they encountered a similar situation in the future, where the ‘commander’ would call for a shutdown, government should be clear on what it would do to make the environment safe for their vehicles and workers to work. From their side, they said they were aware that last time (December 13 and 14, 2022); government promised to provide them with security. However, they said security alone was not good enough to warrant them to take their vehicles to work, against the ‘commander’s order.

They said this was because members of the State security organs might be all over during the day, but at night, they would not be deployed to guard the public transport vehicles where they parked, which meant their businesses would be vulnerable. In that regard, they said if government wanted them to work on such days, it should give them assurance that if a vehicle was burnt, by either the ‘commander’ or his associates, the administration would buy another one within a specific period of time.

Reconstruction

“We do not want to be told about the reconstruction fund because some people, who were affected during the civil unrest, are still waiting for payment,” the bus owners said. In fact, they said if government could assure them that it would replace any public transport vehicle that would be burnt, they could even take the buses to work themselves – that would be if the workers would have concerns about their safety. They emphasised that while implementing these plans, government should also work towards facing the ‘commander’ because they believed that this should be its (government’s) main objective.

On the other hand, some of the concerned bus owners accused government of delaying in facing the ‘commander’ because it allegedly wanted to take advantage of the situation to try and re-implement its old plan of taking the public transport business from them. They said it would do this by introducing a bus company, which was something they fought tooth and nail in 2017, when government proposed to introduce route companies, something that was eventually stopped. They added that the issue was out of their control because they believed that the ‘commander’ cared less about the law.

Substantiate

In a bid to substantiate their claims, they said out of all the other businesses, which did not operate on the days in question (December 13 and 14, 2022), government issued threats to the public transport sector, the buses in particular. They argued that trucks, shops and other sectors did not operate on the said days.  They added that they also did not see government vehicles on the country’s national roads on the day, except the buses, which they claimed were almost empty most of the time.

They wondered if there was a difference between their permits and that of trucks and licences for shops. They argued that they believed people stayed at home and other businesses did not operate, not because there was no public transport, but due to the fact that they feared the ‘commander’. It is worth noting that the Prime Minister (PM), Cleopas Dlamini, when addressing the media last week, said public transport owners might lose their businesses to government if the shutdowns continued.

He said this when responding to questions posed by this publication regarding government’s contingency plan to avoid the public transport shutdowns, which saw examinations, among other things, being postponed. He also highlighted in his Christmas and end-of-year statement that the education sector had once again suffered due to social tensions in the country, with exams having to be shifted.

Detrimental

He said this had been detrimental to the children, whose right to education was infringed upon as a result of issues that did not concern them. He added that currently, government was pleading with the public transport owners and workers to reprimand themselves from the conduct of parking their vehicles. The PM also called upon every liSwati to play a role in avoiding such disturbances in the future, as it affected everyone.

He said if the above failed, government was ready to avail transport to ferry people, like it happened in the recent shutdown, which saw government bringing in its buses. He also explained that government was always ready to implement similar mitigations whenever a need arose and such may be permanent if need be. He reiterated that if the shutdowns continued, government may be forced to look at other means to keep the public transport sector going.

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