The Sunday Mail
There was a time when I considered owning a cellphone a health hazard.
Most people doubted my sanity.
They just couldn’t understand, but I tried to make them see that being in possession of a cellphone would send me to an early grave.
I ran a kombi business then, and each time the phone rang, I knew something was wrong.
Running a transport business is not a stroll in the park.
Apart from ensuring that the vehicles are fully licensed and in perfect working order, one needs a heart of stone to excel.
A cellphone has a wealth of convenience because you can be located anywhere, anytime and know what would be happening promptly.
Unfortunately, you do not need this.
Most people who run transport businesses are hypertensive because of the stress involved.
This is largely because of frequent losses.
Accidents, mechanical breakdowns and pilferage can drive you crazy.
The moment one buys a passenger service vehicle, the odometer is the first to malfunction as drivers go to great lengths to ensure excess mileage is not recorded.
It is not always the case, but most drivers are untrustworthy.
They are commonly associated with drug abuse, alcohol abuse and foul language.
Vanhu vanotuka ivavo.
At a time when the cost of vehicle parts have generally shot through the roof, it is not unusual to find drivers exchanging bulbs, tyres and even batteries with their peers.
Some drain fuel to line their pockets and try to make you believe that the business is underperforming.
“Business is low these days mudhara. It is better to sell fuel than having to carry people around. In fact, you lose nothing and you won’t be involved in an accident because bhazi hatifambise,” a certain young bloke told me straight in the eye after going for close to a week without paying me.
Some drivers even become physical the moment you ask them about money.
“Driving is a painful job. Why don’t you drive yourself if you think I do not know what I am doing?
“This is the problem of working for a black man. You are asking me for money, after an hour your wife will be asking for money and moments later your children will be here. Tapota boss musatinetsewo,” the driver will tell you.
There is a good number of licensed kombi drivers who work for more than 10 kombi owners.
All they do is hand over the vehicles to their unlicensed relatives without the owners’ knowledge.
“Harare is not for the sleepy ones. I have more than 10 drivers who work under me and after a day’s work, they bring the money to me and I then decide what to give the vehicle owner, the driver’s salary and my cut,” a guy who identified himself as Mhukahuru told this writer.
And it did not take long before I encountered a similar situation.
I found a certain elderly woman crying after her car had been damaged beyond repair by a guy she did not know.
“The damaged kombi is mine but I do not know the driver who has been killed here,” she said in tears.
Some unruly kombi drivers actually use the vehicles as bedrooms and shebeens.
In some instances, rogue police officers are part of the scam.
They are reportedly hired to phone vehicle owners purporting to have impounded the vehicle, after which they share the money with the drivers.
If you own a kombi, at times you have to play the role of a marriage counsellor because the conductor and driver’s neglected spouses will be on your doorstep asking for money for the upkeep of their families.
“My husband always tells me that you are not paying him because the car broke down. What do I do with the children who need food and school fees?
“On the other hand, we also need to pay rent because the landlord now wants us out,” are some of the complaints you have to contend with.
During public holidays, some kombi drivers neither return nor bring proceeds from their trips.
All you get from them are sob stories and lies about mechanical faults.
Gentle reader, owning a kombi is worse than a dog’s life but someone has got to live it.
Inotambika mughetto.
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