Chinhoyi – There was chaos in Chinhoyi when Riot Police troops stormed into town to quell a protest caused by dodgy Police owned private transport businesses which have robbed kombi operators of their clients.
The kombi drivers launched their strike yesterday threatening to stop operations in protest over the Police Officers’ illegal activities which has disabled the trade as the ZRP officers are thriving utilising ex-Japanese vehicles to transport passengers. School children and workers at Chikonohono were delayed for hours due to the strike.
Police officers who are untouchable have “fattened themselves” of the illegal pickings as they transport people without licences sometimes even operating vehicles without number plates – (PICTURES).
Violence erupted when Kombi drivers and Hwindis began beating up any Kombi operator ignoring the strike action.

Order only resumed after two hours when riot police descended on the area around 9am when they began dispersing the kombi operators.
Commenting on the development, Indigenous Commuter Operators Association of Zimbabwe President Moses Mutyasira voiced concern over the development saying, “ as the Indigenous Commutter Operators Association of Zimbabwe (ICOAZ), we call for order in the transport industry and condemn in the strongest terms the attempts by police officers to push legal kombi operators out of business through their illegal vans which operate without the required papers.

“While we understand the plight of police officers and the widespread hunger caused by the heartless Mugabe regime,we call upon them to comply with the law and leave our legal operators to do their business. Our icoaz team will be visiting Chinhoyi tomorrow to follow up on reports sent to us.