PUBLIC TRANSPORT RESTRICTION RESULTS IN MANZINI CHAOS

MANZINI – At exactly 9am, yesterday, reality struck at the Manzini Bus Rank, though it equally resulted in chaos.

This was when the curfew set by the Minister of Public Works and Transport, Chief Ndlaluhlaza Ndwandwe, was enforced by the police who were deployed in the usually jam-packed Manzini Bus Rank. The minister’s announcement stipulated that public transport vehicles were to operate between 5am-9am and resume business at 3pm until 7pm daily. As a result, at exactly 9am, public transport service vehicles (kombis and buses) were ordered to leave the bus rank – empty – without passengers. This notice, which came into effect yesterday morning, did not augur well with the personnel working in the public transport industry.

Conductors

Just when the police were ordering buses and kombis to leave the bus rank empty, some bus conductors grouped around and expressed their discontent at the implementation of the exercise, saying that it was on short notice and they should have been allowed to vacate the bus rank with commuters as they were going to park the kombis and buses where the public was destined. However, their plea fell on deaf ears as the police heard none of it. Seeing this, commuters decided to leave the bus rank to various directions. Some people walked towards Grand Valley while others walked towards the Manzini Club traffic circle where they started hitchhiking while others hoped the public transport vehicles would stop there.
While treading along towards these destinations, some kombis started loading the passengers.

Their plan to circumvent the instructions issued by the police did not work as they discovered that there were traffic police officers along the roads exiting the Manzini Central Business District. This led to the public hitchhiking. Meanwhile, some of the bus conductors tricked the police into believing that their buses were empty. This was at the roadblock manned at the Mavuso Trade Centre. This is where this publication’s reporter found Esther Nkambule (60), Gogo Nkonyane (63) and Khetsiwe Dlamini (61), walking while carrying their wares on their heads. They were from the Manzini Market where they had bought fresh produce which they package and sell in Matsapha. Nkambule had a box of bananas while Nkonyane had pumpkin shoots (umbhidvo wetintsanga).

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