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NewsDay

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Revoke bus firm’s operating licence forthwith

Yesterday, we carried a report in which the Zimbabwe Passengers’ Association (ZPA) petitioned President Robert Mugabe to cancel King Lion Bus Company’s operating licence after one of its buses veered off the road and killed 43 people along the Harare-Chirundu Highway last week.

Yesterday, we carried a report in which the Zimbabwe Passengers’ Association (ZPA) petitioned President Robert Mugabe to cancel King Lion Bus Company’s operating licence after one of its buses veered off the road and killed 43 people along the Harare-Chirundu Highway last week.

Comment: NewsDay Editor

According to ZPA secretary-general, Paul Makiwa, Mugabe should immediately intervene and order an investigation into the company’s operations following a series of fatal accidents involving King Lion buses.

What is worrisome is the fact that the bus company, launched some five years ago, four of which the firm has had a series of fatal accidents, coincidentally during the month of June each year since 2014.

For the record, accidents involving the company’s buses,in its five or so-year history have killed 82 people, mostly breadwinners battling to feed their families.

What boggles the mind is that the bus firm is not known to donate towards its accident victims. We urge the government to prosecute such operators.

Zimbabweans received with consternation a call by government for the deceased’s relatives to visit their nearest provincial administrator’s offices to collect the $200 funeral aid to augment the $1 300 each deceased received from the Insurance Council of Zimbabwe. That money is not enough!

We believe that deaths and injuries caused by road traffic accidents should be treated as seriously as other disasters, and victims should receive the same compassion and attention as other victims of violence.

Road traffic accidents are one of the main causes of deaths and injuries countrywide, hence, there is need for Mugabe and his government to draw attention to the enormous scale of the accidents, which are predicted to rise given the country’s economic malaise. Relatives of accident victims should be fully compensated.

It does not matter whether there is a disaster fund or not, but every operator has a full insurance cover — that is what should be used to take care of the victims’ relatives or children until they are able to look after themselves.

Ignoring the challenges facing the country will, for Mugabe, be negating his duties as President of the Republic.

The fact that 82 people could meet violent death through just one bus firm is alarming, and should speak to government seeking to build alliances with the outside world to share responsibility by providing support for capacity building of State functionaries as well as financial support for carrying out infrastructural development projects effectively.

The horrific King Lion bus accident should also remind government of their responsibility to provide protection to the road users and play their role and fulfil their duties more responsibly and effectively.

Clearly, this family-owned bus company has a lot of explaining to do, and, hence, they should not escape scrutiny at all. If anything, they must be severely censured for being complicit.

We still wonder why Transport minister Joram Gumbo has not revoked King Lion bus’ licence for negligence. Killing 82 souls in four consecutive years is unfathomable. It does not require thinking twice!