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Raymond Jaravaza, Showbiz Correspondent

THE story of Meluleki Mpala sounds like a Hollywood blockbuster movie chronicling the hostile takeover and complete annihilation of a rival’s business empire.

The only difference is that Mpala’s story has neither been captured by the lenses of filmmakers nor chronicled for a larger audience outside of his few friends and colleagues who know how he became the kingpin of a popular taxi rank.

The infamous Sixth Avenue and Herbert Chitepo makeshift taxi rank is home to dozens of pirate taxis that ply the Luveve Road route ferrying late night passengers unable to board conventional commuter omnibuses or Zupco buses.

About eight months ago, Mpala and his “associates” were virtually unknown at the taxi rank until one night when they struck; with the sole intention of taking over the place, by all means necessary.

Unbeknown to most people, the Sixth Avenue makeshift taxi rank is not just a place where commuters converge to board transport home. It’s a gold mine to the kingpins who claim to ‘own’ it and are paid handsomely by pirate taxi drivers for every trip to the townships.

Mpala’s story tells a tale of how he and his friends — armed to the teeth and baying for blood — attacked a rival group that had been operating at the pirate taxi rank and ordered them to leave. A new Sheriff had arrived in town and all payments made by the pirate taxi drivers were to be collected by him and his “business associates” and not anyone else.

He refutes violently taking over the taxi rank, but says it was necessary for the place to be handed over to new pairs of hands, for the sake of passengers’ safety.

“Passengers were being robbed by Honda Fit drivers who in the first place, had no business being here (Sixth Avenue taxi rank), but were being allowed to operate by the guys that we chased away.

“As rank marshals, it’s our duty to make sure that genuine taxis ferry passengers safely home and to get rid of bogus drivers who later rob commuters and leave them stranded in the middle of nowhere at night. Remember, we operate at night serving passengers who knock off at night from work and have no choice but to use Honda Fits and other taxis that deliver them right at their doorsteps so their safety is always very important,” Mpala tells Saturday Leisure.

He despises being called a tout and says he is a rank marshal.

For Mpala and his colleagues, a typical business night starts around 8pm when transport to Cowdray Park and Luveve becomes scarce.

Pirate taxis to the two suburbs, among the biggest townships in Bulawayo by size and population, ferry passengers side by side making it easier for kingpins like Mpala to cash in.

At today’s rates, pirate taxi fares to Cowdray Park and Luveve range from $12 to $15 at night per passenger and commuters have the option of paying extra to be delivered at their door step.

Mpala collects a single passenger’s fare for every trip made by a pirate taxi driver.

The kingpin has ‘runners’ that work for him who tout passengers for the pirate taxis.

Again, he prefers calling the ‘runners’ his associates and not touts.

On a good night, especially on weekends and holidays, the kingpin collects money from an average of 30 trips, which he splits with the runners but takes home the larger chunk.

His job is to offer protection to the runners so that they can do their jobs without looking over their shoulders for rival groups intent on taking over the operations of the Sixth Avenue taxi rank.

“We’re not violent people at all. Our job is to make sure that passengers get home safely every night so we screen the drivers that operate here to make sure they are not in any way involved in criminal activities.

“Passengers are free to report any driver who ill-treats them and we’ll deal with that driver,” says Mpala.

He somehow tries to defend the behaviour of his runners who passengers complain work under the influence of alcohol.

“It’s not easy working every night in a sober state. Passengers can be problematic and sometimes fights break out between drivers over who is first in line,” he said.

Mpala is not worried about someone violently taking over the pirate taxi rank one day, but instead dares the would-be mastermind of the attempted takeover to try his luck.

The story is different at another taxi rank informally named the Expriccos taxi rank at the corner of George Silundika Street and Sixth Avenue.

The name is derived from the many taxis registered under the Expriccos banner, which ply the city-Selbourne Park and National University of Science and Technology (Nust) route.

The kingpin at that taxi rank is known as Khumalo, a no-nonsense character known for bringing order to the place frequented by students making their way to Nust every morning on weekdays.

He flatly refuses to talk to Saturday Leisure, but a driver of one of the Expriccos taxis gives us tit bits of the operations at the joint.

“We are probably one of the most organised taxi ranks in Bulawayo. Every taxi is allocated time to ferry passengers depending on their route, be it to Selbourne Park, Riverside, Selbourne Park 2 and Nust.

“All our vehicles are branded and numbered so if passengers have complaints, they can just take note of the number inscribed on the vehicle and the marshals will know the driver to deal with,” said the driver.

It’s a different story altogether along the Bulawayo — Harare Road where menacing and rowdy touts are proving to be a nuisance for passengers.

The informal rank is marshaled by an individual known as Tinashe, believed to be the muscle behind the touts who collect protection fees from them on a daily basis.

While it’s the touts’ violent approach and near neglect of human rights and social safety that irks road users, kingpins such as Tinashe continue to make a living with complete disregard for the welfare of passengers.

The behaviour of the touts has even caught the attention of the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ). The TSCZ believes some road rage incidents emanate from crude encounters that drivers and passengers have with touts at given points of the journey.

Yelling to name shouting and grabbing passengers’ luggage without their consent often leads to unpleasant journeys. Touts go on to ill-treat passengers and sometimes steal their belongings while badgering them to board some buses of their choice.

The transport business is a lucrative venture for the drivers, vehicle owners, but it is the kingpins who claim to “own” the various taxi ranks dotted around the City of Kings who are making a killing by offering protection to the touts that operate at the joints.

To a layman who doesn’t understand the services rendered by the kingpins, it certainly defies logic why they should be paid in the first place. But the kingpins continue to be the biggest beneficiaries of the transport business without even owning a single vehicle. — @RaymondJaravaza.