Opinion / Columnist
Mnangagwa snubbed
20 Dec 2017 at 19:33hrs | Views
It seems as if the festive season is becoming more and more beneficial to the retailers rather than the consumers.
Barely three days have passed since various retailers were told to revert their price hikes by the government officials that include Mr Mike Bimha the minister of industry and commerce, Dr Joram Gumbo the minister of transport and infrastructural development and His Excellency President Emmerson Mnangagwa but it seems as if the sentiments have fallen on deaf ears in some sectors.
Although the retailers reverted some of their price hikes the cross-border buses have relatively snubbed the motion of reverting price hikes as they have intensely increased bus fares by more than 100 percent.
The Johannesburg-Harare plight which normally costs 350 to 400 Rand has intensively increased to between 850 to 1 500 Rand excluding luggage fare.
However, even though the fares have increased immensely the ever resilient Zimbabweans were seemingly toiling for the bus tickets at the Park Station in Johannesburg regardless of the fact that the prices were inhumane.
Regular plighters, such as Eagle Liner which usually costs 350 Rand is now costing around 850 Rand and Intercape is now pegged at 1 500 Rand from 400 Rand.
One passenger who nearly cut her trip short due to the exorbitant price hikes described the scenario as very unfair however, one of the marshals of Eagle Liner said it is what it is and those that didn't want to cope with the fare hike were free to visit their families after the festive season when the prices would have subsided.
He also rubbished Dr Gumbo's remarks of terminating permits of those who were found flaunting prices as he boastfully argued that most of the buses have South African permits meaning they are registered in South Africa and neither President Mnangagwa nor Dr Joram Gumbo have any jurisdiction.
Regardless, President Mnangagwa is expected to address a conference on the 21st of December at the Zimbabwean embassy in Pretoria in relation to the business sector of the country.
Barely three days have passed since various retailers were told to revert their price hikes by the government officials that include Mr Mike Bimha the minister of industry and commerce, Dr Joram Gumbo the minister of transport and infrastructural development and His Excellency President Emmerson Mnangagwa but it seems as if the sentiments have fallen on deaf ears in some sectors.
Although the retailers reverted some of their price hikes the cross-border buses have relatively snubbed the motion of reverting price hikes as they have intensely increased bus fares by more than 100 percent.
The Johannesburg-Harare plight which normally costs 350 to 400 Rand has intensively increased to between 850 to 1 500 Rand excluding luggage fare.
However, even though the fares have increased immensely the ever resilient Zimbabweans were seemingly toiling for the bus tickets at the Park Station in Johannesburg regardless of the fact that the prices were inhumane.
One passenger who nearly cut her trip short due to the exorbitant price hikes described the scenario as very unfair however, one of the marshals of Eagle Liner said it is what it is and those that didn't want to cope with the fare hike were free to visit their families after the festive season when the prices would have subsided.
He also rubbished Dr Gumbo's remarks of terminating permits of those who were found flaunting prices as he boastfully argued that most of the buses have South African permits meaning they are registered in South Africa and neither President Mnangagwa nor Dr Joram Gumbo have any jurisdiction.
Regardless, President Mnangagwa is expected to address a conference on the 21st of December at the Zimbabwean embassy in Pretoria in relation to the business sector of the country.
Source - Daniel Itai
All articles and letters published on Bulawayo24 have been independently written by members of Bulawayo24's community. The views of users published on Bulawayo24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Bulawayo24. Bulawayo24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.
