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STEEP BUS FARES HIKE NEXT WEEK IF ...

08/01/2020 00:53:00 BY SIBUSISO ZWANE

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MANZINI – Members of the public should keep their fingers crossed that government lives up to its promise; to issue the bus fare hikes gazette by Monday.

This is because if government fails to do so, members of the public will either find themselves without transport or having to pay increased bus fares, which were initially proposed by the Eswatini Road Transport Council (ERTC).

Initially, the council had proposed that the maximum bus fare for any passenger in a journey of up to eight kilometres should be E10.
This means that the fare will increase by E4 as it is currently E6.

This would be an increment of 33.3 per cent.
On the other hand, the council had proposed that maximum bus fare for distances in excess of eight kilometres but not exceeding 50km should be increased by E0.66/km, while for commuters who would travel over 50km, it should hike by E0.63/km.
The ERTC called representatives of transport associations to a meeting yesterday where it gave them feedback regarding the gazette permitting them to increase bus fares.

The meeting was held at the Swazi Commercial Amadoda Hall at KaKhoza, Manzini yesterday afternoon.
During the meeting, the Chairman of ERTC, Sihlangu Nhlabatsi, reported to the members that following the fact that government approved an increase in bus fares from E6 to E7.50 for short distances, the Prime Minister (PM) Ambrose Dlamini, through Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Themba Masuku, asked them to at least implement the new fares on January 1, 2020.

He said this took place on November 26, 2019.
However, he said despite the fact that they had been allegedly asking government to process the gazette with the new bus fares before January 1, 2020 so that they could implement it on New Year’s Day, the chairman said he had since gathered that the administration had not done anything.
“Initially, government had said from November 26, 2019, it needed 14 days to complete the process of issuing the gazette, but up to now (yesterday afternoon) it has done nothing,” the chairman said.

Thereafter, he asked for a way forward from the public transport operators’ representatives.
They raised two suggestions, one of which was to immediately charge either E8 or E10 for short distances because according to them, the government they negotiated with was not faithful to them.

Argument

Their argument on this point was that there was nothing wrong with charging increased fares without the gazette because they followed all the necessary procedures and government was failing to let them implement what Parliament approved.
“The best is to charge passengers the bus fares we proposed in the beginning,” they said.

The other suggestion that they put on the table was that the national executive committee (NEC) of ERTC should go and bid government goodbye today and from Monday they would either park their vehicles or charge customers their initial proposed hiked bus fares.
While they were discussing the two points, the chairman told them that he had just received a text message from the Minister of Public Works and Transport, Chief Ndlaluhlaza Ndwandwe.
He then asked to read the message to them as it was.
“It reads; ‘Today (yesterday) Parliament has issued a clearance letter and the Attorney General’s (AG) Office is working on it (processing the gazette). By Monday the gazette will be out,” the chairman said.
The minister confirmed sending the message to the chairman of the council.
He said this was what he got from the ministry as he was locked in Cabinet yesterday.
He said he would verify with the AG’s Office as to when exactly the gazette would be issued.
After reading the message, the chairman interpreted it by saying it meant that by Monday, the gazette would be ready to be signed by the minister before being printed out.
Representatives
He then asked the operators’ representatives on how they felt about these developments.
They agreed that the ERTC NEC should still go to government and notify it that when the minister sent the message, they were in a meeting discussing the matter and that they were about to bid the ministry goodbye.
Thereafter, they said in the event the gazette would not be available by Monday, they would either park their vehicles or charge passengers the amount they had proposed initially.
However, in the event the gazette will be ready, they said they would meet next Thursday so that it could be officially presented to the operators for discussions on when it would be implemented so that they could also alert members of the public.