Member of Parliament, Joseph Chinotimba should be ashamed for backing touts that have caused the masses unbearable trouble.
From passing sexist comments to women, undressing our fellow sisters whom they feel are not properly dressed, one cannot stop but wonder who defines what is short or indecent clothing? Would our ancestors’ regalia be regarded as inappropriate?
These touts have greatly contributed to the cost of living of an ordinary Zimbabwe where they now determine how much should a Kombi charge, what time is peak hour and what is not, which route to take and which one not to.
All for a selfish reason which is getting the highest fee so they get a better income, ok here is how it works with touts they convince the Kombi driver to charge more say a 1$ and which route to take as they are always on the ground observing which route has not been serviced concurrently where is the majority of the crowd heading to, when that’s approved the tout calls for passengers. After the kombi is full the tout is rewarded with money worth the price of one seat in the car.
This system has seen the masses standing and the pickup points for long hours hoping they will be a miracle where a Kombi reduces its fare to 5 Rands which is usually the budget for a lot out there, some of these people who have to withstand long hours waiting are children, mothers, women and some even pregnant.
Personally I used to think touts are a bunch of misunderstood chaps pushing their grind not until recently I discovered the truth is they are a bunch of villains making everyone’s life hard especially the ordinary citizen living under a shoe string budget in a failing economy like ours.
Well Chinoz would not know much about this, would he? He is a motorist whose main worries are the garbage collection and potholes. One would wonder when last he used public transport, Aww that other time he was protesting touts be left alone.
While the issue of unemployment may be understood with the case of these touts milking that average citizen who is overworked and underpaid.
Touts deserve whatever is coming to them as Zimbabweans don’t need any additional issues that make them part with money they do not have.
Shame on the Kombi owners too, for being hard-core capitalists who only care about the money the kombis bring but their fleet is ill maintained, and careless on how the vehicles are driven just as long as they are still on the road they are bringing in money. Kombi owners should pluck a tree from some of the Bulawayo Based Kombi owners like Focus tours and many others who ensure their fleet is well maintained and customers are comfortable.