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KOMBI DRIVERS’ SALARIES CUT BY 30 PER CENT

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MBABANE – The effects of the coronavirus outbreak are being greatly felt by the public transport industry.


Apart from having their salaries cut by 30 per cent last month, public transport drivers have also had their breakfast and lunch allowances suspended.The drivers are also anticipating the worst as their salaries could be cut by a further 50 per cent should the situation brought about by the outbreak of the coronavirus persist.


This is because the public transport vehicles are now making lesser trips with a few number of passengers on  board as means to practise social distancing in order to fight the spread of the virus.


Commuting


A kombi driver servicing short distances (8km) earns an average salary of E1 600, which is subsidised by extra cash that they make, unofficially, on a daily basis. This is commonly referred to as umdlazi. It ranges from E50 to E200 per day, depending on the commuting activity of each day.
In an interview with a kombi driver operating along the Mbabane-Mahwalala route, Sandile Hlophe, he stated that since the logistics and transport COVID-19 regulations came into effect, they have had to welcome adjustments on their normal financial gains.


“Last month a majority of us received E1 000 in salaries and the rest was cut. We have had to make adjustments in our spending to accommodate the situation because it is financially frustrating,” he said.
Another kombi driver, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was tough but they had to make do with what they received.


“It’s better than being at home and doing nothing. Yes, we had to adjust our lifestyles to fit the new pay, which is quite frustrating but we are grateful that we still get something at the end of the month. The challenge is what will happen should the situation persist,” he said.

To be in line with the partial lockdown, Minister of Public Works and Transport Chief Ndlaluhlaza Ndwandwe emphasised that public transport operators shall operate from 5am to 9am (morning peak) and from 3pm to 7pm (afternoon peak). He said no public transport shall operate between 9am to 3pm.


Passengers


The minister also emphasised that transport operators should see to it that passengers observe a one-metre distance apart when boarding and once inside the public transport and he acknowledged that this would mean that the public transport must ferry people at a reduced capacity, specifically nine in a kombi.
However, the number has since been raised to 11 passengers.


He said the carrying capacity for buses shall not be limited to the 20 people per gathering, but shall be guided by the social distancing noted.
To this, Hlophe said they were now making far less from what they usually made. He said their employers usually had an average daily target of E600 to be cashed by the drivers but they were now cashing E300 to E400 depending on the commuting activity.


“We were getting E20 for breakfast and E35 for lunch as our daily allowances but we now eat at home or at our houses because we are not making much due to the COVID-19 regulations,” he said.


He added that due to the situation, conductors’ services had been suspended in almost all the kombis because it was not making sense to have a reduced number of passengers and a seat occupied by a conductor at the same time.


He said about 80 per cent of them were at home. Given that there are about 660 public transport vehicles operating in Mbabane alone, this means over 500 conductors are without employment.


A kombi marshal, identified as Xolani also shared similar sentiments. He said on a normal day, he made E130, besides the standard ranking fee of E10 that the public transport operators paid on a daily basis for utilising the bus rank.


He said the transport operators paid him a communion fee of E5 to E10, something that had stopped since the implementation of the regulations.
“We are not making extra money anymore and it is hard to get by. Our spending power has been dealt a huge blow because we now rely on the basic salary that we get from the employer,” he said.


A public transport operator, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they were left with no choice but to implement the adjustments because the money they were getting was meagre, owing to the regulations.


Loss


“A lot of us have opted to park our vehicles because we are making a huge loss. Cutting of the employees’ salaries is not by choice but one way of mitigating the situation without having to relieve them of their duties,” he submitted.
National Road Transport Council (NRTC) Chairperson Sihlangu Nhlabatsi said it was not something they discussed at national level but such matters were between the employer and employee.


When quizzed on how far they had advanced on negotiating for a subsidy from government, Nhlabatsi said they had, through the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), forwarded a budget to government on same but they were still waiting for feedback.
He said since Cabinet had a sitting yesterday, they were hopeful that it formed part of their discussions and hopefully they would get feedback soon.

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