BUS FARE HIKE WITHOUT GAZETTE ILLEGAL – ASSOCIATIONS

MANZINI – “It will be illegal to increase bus fares without a gazette.”

President of the Buses Association Duma Msibi said this following recent reports wherein public transport workers were quoted as having said they would increase bus fares with or without the publication of the gazette as of today. Despite that the public transport associations have said the price increments would be implemented after the gazette is published and they had discussed the date of their implementation, social media was abuzz with various price lists taken from public service vehicles yesterday. The price lists reflected the supposedly new charges. The lists reflected that that the prices would be implemented tomorrow.

Msibi said they had heard about the reports that public transport workers were planning to increase bus fares today. He said such an act would be illegal in law, and to further ensure that it did not happen, they would have a meeting as an association to discuss it and emphasise same to their members. He said: “It’s an honour that we have a draft of the prices to be published in a gazette. The next step is for the draft to be in print as a legal instrument.” The president of the Buses Association said he understood the pressure most workers were feeling as the prices of fuel had surged such that they were failing to break even.

Surprise

He said their clients would not be taken by surprise as the public transport operators association would next Monday meet to discuss the period of notification for commuters. “We shall all meet and set a date so that our operations are uniform. Those in a hurry to implement the new prices should be patient,” he said. Msibi said the ministry had promised them that the gazette would be published and made available tomorrow. This was echoed by the National Chairperson of the Swaziland Local Transport Association (SLTA), Ambrose Dlamini. He said they had a caucus with government (Ministry of Public Works and Transport) last week, wherein they were offered the draft. Dlamini said during the meeting with government, it was agreed that the gazette would have been published by tomorrow. He said the subsequent meeting that would be convened shall be next Monday wherein they would decide on the period to be taken in notifying their customers of the new prices. “We’ll soon announce the date in which the new prices will be effected,” Dlamini said. He acknowledged that some of their members had the wrong interpretation of the draft, as they supposedly assumed it was the gazette and, hence, the prices could be implemented.

Members

Also, Dlamini said this past Monday, they met to discuss what they could do to ensure that the gazette was published this week and also alert their members. He said they also informed other associations to relay to their members that the new bus fares could not yet be implemented. Worth noting is that recently, it had been reported that Members of Parliament (MPs) were of the view that paying E13 for short distances in the proposed bus fare hike was too much for commuters. As an alternative, they proposed hiking bus fares from E7.70 to E10 for short distances. This was at the backdrop of public transport operators seeking to hike bus fares by between five and 62 per cent, depending on the distance.

Meanwhile, it was reported that public transport operators, challenged MPs and proposed that if they accepted the E10 hike as opposed to the E13, MPs would also have take into consideration reviewing prices for processing documents such as permits at the ministry of Public Works and Transport. It is worth noting that the increment of bus fares depicts a 25 per cent addition for commuters and it is not new as it was proposed in 2019 when the fare was still E6.

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