MARIENTAL – Minibus operators from the //Kharas and Hardap regions recently engaged the Namibian police over alleged traffic management irregularities, negatively affecting their daily business operations.
Michael Humphries, chairperson of the Southern Long Distance Public Transport Concerned Group (SLDPTCG), said issues affecting minibus operators often fall on deaf ears.
“It is with a deep sense of sorrow in our hearts that the same authorities we turned to, with our grievances and challenges seem to intentionally ignore us while working tirelessly to add more fuel to our existing problems,” he said.
Humphries expressed concern that it is insulting to grant liberty to one group of operators who are not registered under existing laws while ignoring the cries of operators that are registered.
Referring to the recent announcement by the Works and Transport Minister, Veikko Nekundi, which questions the legitimacy of seven-seater vehicle owners as transport operators, Humphries expressed concern of the industry not being consulted and whether due processes were followed during the deliberations.
“The reasons that public transport associations, which should serve and represent their members, are not fully recognised by authorities remain unknown to us, and this should not and cannot be tolerated in a democratic society like ours,” said the chairperson.
Mentioning areas of concern needing attention, he described them as among other issues; the availability of safety standards and requirements for long-distance public transport operators’ vehicles, unapproved applications for certain long-distance routes, but allowing seven-seater vehicles to operate on them, favouritism towards seven-seater operators, which is an unfair practice, and incidents of altercations between these operators and other public transport operators over customers.
Additionally, loading zones, and the validity of existing public road transport laws and regulations.
In his response, deputy commissioner Rozario Coetzee from the police’s traffic department asked for patience from the group since their concerns cannot be addressed overnight.
“Please put the concerns you verbally raised today on paper so we can elevate them to higher authorities for review,” he advised the aggrieved operators.
Coetzee emphasised that all parties should actively participate in ensuring the country’s public roads are safe and not hazardous to drive on.
“If we take hands together and face all these challenges as a collective, the desired results can be achieved at the end,” he said.
He also informed the group that, since more than 377 lives have been lost on Namibian roads since the beginning of the year, it is therefore the civic duty of all drivers to follow road traffic rules and regulations to prevent further fatalities.
-sklukowski@nepc.com.na