Opinion / Columnist
Regulate ground Transit and Passenger transportation
27 Dec 2017 at 09:24hrs | Views
Today in our country, people who travel by ground transportation can catch a private lift, a school bus, a private bus, a Kombi or a taxi. The distinction is based on vehicle type, route, and schedule. Except for school buses, this transportation business is not regulated therefore depriving the government of billions of dollars.
To begin with, no one knows the number of people employed in this industry. It is common knowledge that there might be a million plus Kombis operating within the borders of Zimbabwe. Each of those Kombis employs at least two people but due to the lack of data, no one knows.
This lack of data prejudices the government because Kombi transportation is a big business that can earn the owner $60,000 + per year per car. The employees are paid $15,000 + per year. All this money is going away tax free thereby prejudicing the government of billions of dollars.
There is no valid argument against paying taxes from an operational business. Take for example civil servants whose salaries are $7,000 per year; these hard working people pay taxes to the government. There are small business owners selling wares in around the country; they hardly make $20,000 per year but are require to pay taxes; why not Kombi operators and their employees?
Allowing Kombi operations to function outside government oversight is detrimental not only to fiscal responsibility oversight but to occupational employment statistics like work related fatalities, injuries, and sickness. Without regulating this industry, such pertinent data will never be available.
My conclusion therefore is for the government to move quickly in regulating this industry. The points to consider will be to ban all private cars from offering rides to hitch-hikers. Anyone caught offering lifts to strangers must pay a flat fee of $20,000.00. The private car must be taken to the police station and will only be released after the $20,000.00 plus storage fees of $50 per day and any others fines have been paid to the government accountant.
As for the Kombis, this business operations must be regularized immediately. As a start, every Kombi must have an accounting schedule put in place immediately. Every Kombi must have a schedule so that if stopped by the police, all the data like when the Kombi left the place of origin, its destination, number of passengers, license, owner, employees must be obvious from the records not from interrogations. If the driver was over speeding, the police will know from the schedule. If a Kombi is overloaded with passengers, the passengers must get a $50 ticket; the driver and his conductor must be arrested; the Kombi must be taken out of operations for 30 days, and lose the operational license; the owner will have to pay a hefty fine like $100, 000.00 and go through registration again to get the Kombi back on the road. No Kombi must have additional seats welded to increase the seating capacity. If a Kombi has a seating capacity of 15 people, then 15 people must be in the Kombi. Violation of this rule must be treated as an overloaded Kombi. The Kombi must be immediately removed from the road and pay a daily storage fee of $50 in addition to all other fines.
This will bring sanity to our roads.
To begin with, no one knows the number of people employed in this industry. It is common knowledge that there might be a million plus Kombis operating within the borders of Zimbabwe. Each of those Kombis employs at least two people but due to the lack of data, no one knows.
This lack of data prejudices the government because Kombi transportation is a big business that can earn the owner $60,000 + per year per car. The employees are paid $15,000 + per year. All this money is going away tax free thereby prejudicing the government of billions of dollars.
There is no valid argument against paying taxes from an operational business. Take for example civil servants whose salaries are $7,000 per year; these hard working people pay taxes to the government. There are small business owners selling wares in around the country; they hardly make $20,000 per year but are require to pay taxes; why not Kombi operators and their employees?
My conclusion therefore is for the government to move quickly in regulating this industry. The points to consider will be to ban all private cars from offering rides to hitch-hikers. Anyone caught offering lifts to strangers must pay a flat fee of $20,000.00. The private car must be taken to the police station and will only be released after the $20,000.00 plus storage fees of $50 per day and any others fines have been paid to the government accountant.
As for the Kombis, this business operations must be regularized immediately. As a start, every Kombi must have an accounting schedule put in place immediately. Every Kombi must have a schedule so that if stopped by the police, all the data like when the Kombi left the place of origin, its destination, number of passengers, license, owner, employees must be obvious from the records not from interrogations. If the driver was over speeding, the police will know from the schedule. If a Kombi is overloaded with passengers, the passengers must get a $50 ticket; the driver and his conductor must be arrested; the Kombi must be taken out of operations for 30 days, and lose the operational license; the owner will have to pay a hefty fine like $100, 000.00 and go through registration again to get the Kombi back on the road. No Kombi must have additional seats welded to increase the seating capacity. If a Kombi has a seating capacity of 15 people, then 15 people must be in the Kombi. Violation of this rule must be treated as an overloaded Kombi. The Kombi must be immediately removed from the road and pay a daily storage fee of $50 in addition to all other fines.
This will bring sanity to our roads.
Source - Sam Wezhira
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