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Bulawayo City Council together with the police launched a blitz against pirate taxis and kombis defying a directive to move to the upgraded Egodini bus terminus. 

The council wants to restore order in the city centre where pirate taxis and kombis are causing chaos by picking and dropping passengers at undesignated points. 

There is congestion in the central business district (CBD) because of this lawlessness hence the crackdown to restore sanity. Municipal police and ZRP officers have since Monday been camped at popular undesignated pick up and drop points across the city in a bid to stop the errant public transporters from using these illegal ranks. 

It has since been established that many of the kombis resisting to move to Egodini bus terminus do not have the required papers authorising them to operate. After removing the kombis and pirate taxis from the CBD, council with the assistance of the police will also remove vendors operating from undesignated areas. 

We have said before that the decision by council to restore order in the CBD must be supported by all stakeholders. All public transporters should operate from designated ranks for the convenience of the commuting public. 

It is in fact safe for members of the public to board registered kombis at designated ranks as this reduces the risk of boarding pirate taxis operated by criminals. 

All vendors should also operate from designated places to enable the city to maintain cleanliness ,more so now when the country is grappling with the outbreak of cholera. Bulawayo is yet to record cholera cases and we want to commend the council for taking this move meant to prevent the outbreak of cholera and other water-borne diseases. 

There is total chaos in the CBD because of uncontrolled vending as some roads have been closed by vendors who have allocated themselves operating spaces. It is therefore very difficult for the city to prevent an outbreak of cholera given the obtaining situation on the ground. 

The council’s move to rid the CBD of all illegal vendors should be supported if the city is to remain safe from cholera which has already claimed more than 300 lives across the country. 

The illegal vendors were given up to last Friday to move to designated vending areas but they have decided to stay put. The vendors are selling vegetables, fruits, meat, fish and other such products on the pavements which is a recipe for disaster. 

There are also many backyard restaurants where individuals are cooking and selling food while others are cooking food at home and bringing it to town during lunch hour to sell in the open. There is, therefore, urgent need to address this problem before the city witnesses an outbreak of cholera. 

Illegal vendors should not wait for council and police to forcibly remove them but should instead move to designated places and those that have not regularised their operations should do so as soon as possible. 

We want at this juncture to commend Government for quickly reacting to contain cholera but measures put in place by Government can only be effective if complemented by communities through maintaining high standards of hygiene. 

We want to implore the BCC not to relent on its move to rid the CBD of illegal vendors.