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Bernard Shaw. For he knew that our sight was always obstructed from within before blaming any external barriers, it is that moment to take stock of our metropolitan “multiscelorosis” before accusing even the future generation to come for blame game knows no bounds.
A city of injustice is in the making which goes against the architect of Gotham city as espoused by an American king of R n’ B, Robert Kelly in his hit track, Gotham City where he boasts about it as a city where everyone wants to be and can’t live without. Harare is turning to become one of the most confusing metropolitan centres to live in mainly due to self-imposed problems by motorists notably those from kombis.
The never ending standoff between the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the kombi operators has cost both life and convenience to the ordinary civilians who rely on public transport in their everyday life. Transport inflation which had seen most of the local commuter omnibuses charging US$1 per trip had mainly been linked to their daily hassles with members of police force than with economic fundamentals.
Our research points out that penalty fees being levied on errant commuter operators end up being absorbed by the passengers as the kombi operators have to compensate for the losses incurred in their daily trips to and from the central business district. A working solution has to be mooted where the traffic police will not deal with the outcome of the problem but rather track the disease from its source.
It is so disturbing to note that about 90 percent of kombis in our roads are not roadworthy, it is also an undeniable fact that the crew in the commuters are hardly qualified to carry the passengers considering that few of them can bring out their driving licences on road blocks. Some of these commuter omnibuses resort to evading the roadblocks through the use of unconventional routes, which worsens traffic congestion in the already dilapidated tar surfaces.
The reason for the existence of present day Abuja was to run away from the chaos of Lagos, the new democratic government in Nigeria following years of military rule had to shift the capital not to address regional inequalities but because Lagos had became irredeemable. Our Zimbabwean authorities have to take drastic measures to deal with the rampant disregard of urban laws, as the greater part of Harare is no longer accessible.
Municipal police who are supposed to be custodians of sanity in the central business district had been more energetic slashing maize crops in the suburbs and dispersing helpless grandmothers selling vegetables in the pavements. It is certainly not necessary to deal with these commuter omnibuses in the midst of the road where the solution ends up becoming the ill conceived smashing of wind screens which fuels further damage to the already damaged transport sector.
The rain season is with us and more of this drama in our roads will last till April 2012, confusion remains on the utilisation of one way streets with most kombi drivers flouting regulations to do with road safety. The recent death of a child who was swayed out of the kombi window remains an emotional incident that calls for a change in approach by the traffic police.
The argument of too many cars in Harare is still far from convincing, as the concentration of vehicles remains limited with a ratio of 1 car to 850 residents standing. A mere observation of traffic shows that the traffic jam does not last for more than a kilometre in terms of stretch but a high level of selfishness has brought restlessness in our roads.
The town planners for the city seem to have forgotten to play their part. Minister Ignatius Chombo and his department has to prepare a traffic blue print for the metropolitan with the ghosts always haunting the potential of the city. The rate at which the kombi crew is taking the law into its hands will cost the present government more than they can envisage. The monster has been allowed to blossom under the nose of a relaxed administration.
What began as a Kaguvi Street cancer has spread to the eastern part of the city with Robert Mugabe Way, Chinhoyi Street, Cameron Street and Speke Avenue being the worst affected. It has turned to become a Trojan town where every motorist has his or her own personal law book to interpret.
It is my fervent hope that kickbacks and other corrupt practices will be stamped out as our desire to see an organised Harare gathers momentum. The worrying feature of the development is a significant percentage of the trouble causers are ironically a drain to the national wealth as what they can only afford to do is paying bribes not even penalty fees which must be boosting the treasury coffers.
Anonymous tips and suggestion boxes must be utilised in our roads as the cancer of corruption seems to be raising the contemptuous levels of the kombi crew to astronomic levels. The Anti-Corruption Commission has been duly constituted but its role remains academic not pragmatic.
In his 2012 budget statement, Minister Biti bemoaned the high level of corruption in the entry points into the country; this has also seen endless queues at border posts with Beitbridge and Chirundu being prime cases. That the greater chunk of money supply is outside the formal banking system is indisputable and if all funds which are unaccounted for where to be exposed, the face of the Zimbabwean economy was to change its angle.
The chaos currently defining Harare roads is naturally unsustainable to say the least and a case of legendary failure by city fathers at most. The city has suddenly assumed a sunset status with the former sunshine tag being overshadowed by the ubiquitous jacaranda trees scattered all over the cosmopolitan.
It is time for the city authorities to desert their comfort zones and march into the murky waters of positive reasoning. All commuter omnibuses must be banned from plying the route which passes through the central business district.
To the east, Fourth Street bus terminus must be the boundary, to the south, it has to be the terminus adjacent to Harare central police, to the West, Copacabana alongside downtown closer to Doves Morgan funeral parlour and an exit ring has to be created which also forbids heavy load traffic from using the CBD route.

l Christopher Takunda Mugaga is head of research for the Econometer Global Capital.