Zupco pledges to pay operators

Owners of private kombis operating under the Zupco franchise are set to receive their payments starting from tomorrow with all paid by the end of the week. Delays have seen some Zupco kombi drivers not being paid for the last two months and yesterday many in Chitungwiza, Masvingo and some parts of the country went on strike.

ZUPCO regional operational manager Mr Tito Chirau said operators will start getting the payments tomorrow. "We are receiving a payment from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development tomorrow and then we will make all the payments to private operators. They should start expecting their money from Wednesday going forward.

"We are encouraging our private operators to continue working as usual providing transport to our citizens. "There have been delays but they will all receive their payments by the end of this week," he said.

While Zupco pays for kombis under its franchise, the fares on Zupco kombis are the same or higher than those charged by the pirates, who all seem to be able to cope. Whenreporters visited the Zupco depot there were some commuter omnibuses parked inside.

One operator, Mr Artwell Huchu, said their drivers were demanding their salaries before resuming work and acknowledged drivers had not been paid for the last two months.

"We are the ones who pay our drivers after receiving our money from Zupco. It has been two months now without receiving our money from Zupco so that we can pay the salaries the drivers are demanding from us. We have told them that we have not received anything from Zupco for the past two months, but they said they were not going to work until they receive their money.

"The Zupco officials have sent us messages that our drivers have refused to work and it was up to us to talk to them, but the only way we can make them understand is after we have given them their salaries. So currently we are waiting for the money to pay our drivers for them to resume work," he said.

Another operator, Mr Brian Mazhawu, said the other challenge that they were facing was lack of sufficient documentation for their commuter omnibuses and their drivers to be on the road.

"These commuters must work in line with the traffic laws which means it should have adequate paperwork for it to be on the road and the driver should also have proper documentation. The challenge we are now facing is that Zupco is failing to give us our money on time so that we update our paperwork and those of our drivers."

Mr Edmore Moyo said the only way they can have their drivers resume work was to give them their salaries.

"Our drivers get 15 percent of the money we receive from Zupco. The issue is that we have not been receiving any money from Zupco and our drivers have downed tools, thus inconveniencing us because we are paid according to the days they work," he said.