Daily Sun editor, Amos Mananyetso feels Mzansi has way too many problems.
MZANSI has too many problems.
So much can happen in a day or week, to a point where you only find out days later after a big incident has happened.
This year alone, which is essentially a month old, we have had big news – from our soldiers dying in the DRC to Donald Trump pissing against the wind.
On the other hand, some kids are still to start learning in their new grades as placement of pupils has, once again, taken forever to be completed across the country.
For others, there are just not enough classrooms or schools to accommodate them.
Bad weather has wreaked havoc in some provinces, while the celeb world has also lost some of its darlings like musicians Winnie Khumalo and Nomvula “Njunju” Skosana.
In the same period, a low-key war has been waged against bus companies. More than 50 buses belonging to Putco were torched on Monday night, 27 January.
Exactly seven days later, nine buses belonging to the state-owned entity North West Transport Investment (NTI) were set alight by unknown assailants while they were parked at the Moretele bus sleeping ground.
As if that was not enough, two Rea Vaya drivers were shot and killed on Monday night, 3 February, in Soweto.
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Two suspects were arrested for the Putco fire, but no one knows the motive for all three attacks. What we know is these senseless crimes are heavily inconveniencing commuters who use this kind of public transport to get to school and work.
In parts of Mpumalanga where Putco operates, there are only two choices for the residents, most of whom work in Pretoria and Hammanskraal in Gauteng.
They either use the bus, which enjoys a government subsidy, or have to make do with taxis, that can be double the fare they pay with Putco.
The same situation is the case with areas in which the NTI operates in though the difference is not that huge in certain areas.
For example, a single trip from Makapanstad to the Pretoria CBD costs R34 by bus and R6 more by taxi. In the case of Soweto, the fare structure works on the distance that commuters travel on Rea Vaya buses, making it more or slightly less the prices commuters pay when they opt to use taxis.
So, given the above, we can’t say it’s the taxi industry that’s trying to sabotage bus companies.
I believe the taxi industry also appreciates the fact that they don’t have the capacity to be sole service providers in these areas as there will be more passengers than available seats if buses were to be taken out of the equation overnight.
So who is causing the chaos and why?
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