Social distance impossible

NOEL IYOMBWA & LINDA TEMBO write @SunZambian It is not possible to reduce the number of passengers in our buses because the owners of buses expect the same amount of cashing and fuel is expensive, bus drivers in Lusaka have said. The drivers said they would continue squeezing passengers in their minibuses as long as fuel and cashing is not reduced. In an interview Smokey Siachiwena said as much as they may want to abide by government’s directive, bus owners do not understand and expect the same cashing that they have been making before the outbreak of Coronavirus. He said that if government can also reason with bus owners then the directive can be adhered to. Mr. Siachiwena added that on the issue on sanitizing passengers, some passengers refuse to be sanitized. Another driver Saili Zulu said that even if the cashing was to be reduced, it can be difficult to for most drivers to follow the instruction. He said that drivers get little money at the end of the month hence the extort money from what they make at the end of the day. Mr. Zulu said that reducing the number of passengers would mean that low income for both the owner of the bus and the drivers. Effortmind Mweembe, another bus driver said it was difficult for him to practice social distance on the bus because he had to make money for cashing every day.  “We do not practice social distance on the buses because we have to recover money for road tax we pay every year. If government can consider reducing road tax, fuel and also talk to the owners of the buses to reduce cashing we can be getting few passengers,” he said. Abel Chama said it was not possible for him to be carrying less people on the bus because he had an obligation to make with the owner of the bus. Mr Chama said that if government wanted them to practice social distance on buses, they should speak to their bosses and reduce on road tax and fuel prices. He said “Ife sitikana kuchefya bantu mu bus, but fuel na cashing ili same sibanachoseko.”(We have not refused to reduce the number of passenger, but fuel and cashing has remained the same so we cannot reduce.) Meanwhile, Minister of Home Affairs, Stephen Kampyongo said as a ministry they would engage bus owners to ensure that they practiced social distance in the buses to avoid the spread of COVID-19. Mr Kampyongo said that government was aware that business was very difficult and that bus operators should not expect to make the same money because of the pandemic and that there was need to adjust. “We are going to collaborate with our colleagues from the ministry of transport and communication to ensure that the transporters and there drivers and the people from the local authorities ensure that the prescribed number of people are on those buses it is important that they adhere,” The Minister said.  Recently Minister of Transport and Communications, Mutotwa Kafwaya announced that bus owners should reduce the number of passengers on each bus by 60 per cent. Flash buses proprietor Ishmael Kankara was the first bus owner to adhere to the directive and reduced cashing by 45 per cent, however most bus drivers have not adhered to the directive and have continued loading maximum passengers. Mr. Kankara disclosed that he discovered that his drivers where loading the same number of passengers but cashing in reduced amount.