Two bus companies, Zebra Kiss and Rimbi Tours, have apologised and fired drivers who were involved in a fatal road race along the Harare-Nyamapanda road earlier this week. The incident resulted in the death of one man and injured over 20 passengers. Transport Minister Felix Mhona suspended the companies’ licenses following the accident.

The managers of Zebra Kiss and Rimbi Tours admitted that their teams were reckless on the day of the incident and promised to pay for the funeral of the deceased as well as the medical care of the injured passengers.

I just want to apologise to the nation for what happened and to our minister (of transport) as well and the entire transport sector which includes our association, ZPTO for this mess which happened on that day.

It was also to be noted that this was caused by human error which was the negligence of our drivers and we would like to take full responsibility for that and also say sorry to the families that got injured; we also lost one of the bus crew for Rimbi buses.
Tangisai Mapuranga, Managing Director of Zebra Kiss Coaches.

Decent Rimbi, director of Rimbi Travel and Tours, also issued an apology and pledged the company’s commitment to supporting the funeral of its deceased employee and the injured passengers.

It is important for companies to take responsibility for their actions especially when their personnel are to blame. It seems there is a need for a complete overhaul of some of the systems in place at both Rimbi Tours and Zebra Kiss. There have been rumours that some of the drivers do not meet the legal requirements to be drivers of public transport vehicles. These rumours have not been substantiated but it is not uncommon for this to happen in the public transport system.