Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume has urged residents to use public transport instead of private vehicles, warning that traffic congestion in the capital will continue...
Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume has urged residents to use public transport instead of private vehicles, warning that traffic congestion in the capital will continue to worsen unless more people change the way they travel. He said increasing numbers of private cars on the city’s roads are making Harare increasingly difficult to navigate.
Speaking at the Transparency International Zimbabwe (TI-Z) Integrity and Accountability Summit on Tuesday, Mafume said traffic congestion had reached worrying levels and would become more severe if no action was taken to reduce the number of private vehicles entering the city.
“Harare is no longer navigable. It is now a traffic jam. It could be worse and it’s going to get worse if we don’t do something,” Mafume said during his address.
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The mayor attributed much of the congestion to the growing number of cars owned by individual households. He said it had become common for several members of the same family to drive separate vehicles, even for short journeys, placing additional pressure on Harare’s road network.
“Everyone is buying a car. The wife, the husband, the son, the gardener, the maid and the relative. You’ve got five cars at a household. All of them leave,” he said.
Mafume also said many people were driving into the central business district for activities that could be carried out closer to where they live. According to the mayor, reducing unnecessary trips into the city would help ease congestion and improve the flow of traffic.
As part of efforts to improve public transport, Mafume announced that the city is supporting a private sector initiative that will introduce 200 buses into Harare’s urban transport system. He said the buses had already been purchased by entrepreneurs and are currently being shipped to Zimbabwe.
“The 200 buses are already on ships. So the buses are coming,” he said.
According to Mafume, the investors approached both his office and the responsible government ministry with plans to operate the fleet in Harare. He said the proposal received support because it could encourage more commuters to leave their private vehicles at home and use public transport instead.
“And we welcomed the move because if we are going to have 200 buses, we are going to have a lot of people out of the cars as a pilot project,” Mafume said.
He emphasized that the project is being financed by private investors and not by Harare residents or the local authority. He said the initiative demonstrates private sector confidence in improving the city’s transport system while expanding public transport options for commuters.
The mayor said the long-term goal is to move more people away from informal transport operators, commonly known as mushikashika, and towards reliable mass public transport. “We need that for getting people out of Mushikashika, out of transportation, into public mass transport,” he said.
Mafume also pointed to Singapore as an example of how strong public transport systems and stricter vehicle ownership policies have helped reduce congestion. He said Zimbabwe should also prioritize investment in efficient mass transit if Harare is to become easier to navigate as the city’s population and number of vehicles continue to grow.
