Petrol shortages mean long and chaotic lines at bus stops for Zimbabwean commuters. On Tuesday, they learned that once they manage to board a bus, chances are 50-50 the driver is unsafe or unlicensed.
In a campaign to combat the nation’s notorious highway carnage, the Transport Ministry gave driving tests to 9 674 public transport drivers and nearly half failed, state radio reported on Tuesday.
In tests up to August 26, 4 318 of the drivers failed. Some had evidently obtained licences through ”fraudulent means” and had not passed routine driving tests in the first place, according to the report.
Some drivers desperate to hold on to their jobs in a country of 80% unemployment also failed because of ill health or ageing.
Drivers’ licences can be bought from corrupt officials for as little as Z$10-million (about $40 at the black-market exchange rate).
Bus accidents are common in Zimbabwe and are blamed on faulty vehicles, shortages of spare parts in the stricken economy, speeding and driver error. Infrastructure such as traffic lights also is in disrepair.
Over a holiday weekend last month, 21 people died in road accidents, double the number killed over the same holiday period last year. In March, 27 people died when a minibus rammed into a train in western Harare. In the country’s worst accident, 96 people died when a bus plunged into a ravine in rural eastern Zimbabwe.
Petrol shortages in the economic meltdown have forced many buses off the road in recent weeks. Petrol and bus fares were included in a government order in June to cut prices of all goods and services by about 50% in June.
Business owners say they are being forced to sell for less than it costs to produce items or buy them wholesale. The cuts have led to hoarding and left shelves bare of cornmeal, bread, meat, cooking oil and routine goods such as soap, tea, coffee, cookies, beer and cigarettes.
The cuts were ordered in an attempt to curb inflation, officially at 7 634%, the highest in the world. Independent estimates put it closer to 25 000%. — Sapa-AP