As the debate on how to decongest Harare’s Central Business District (CBD) rages on, several solutions have emerged, though none of them avoid controversy.

According to a report in one edition of the Financial Gazette last month, the Mayor of Harare Bernard Manyenyeni was reported to have said that council was considering banishing privately owned vehicles from the CBD in an effort to decongest the City. However, the Mayor has since refuted that statement saying that he comment was only part of a social media discussion.

“No, I did not make that statement. There was a discussion on Facebook about banning kombis in the CBD (and) I welcomed as refreshingly different thinking a remark by one of the contributors that we instead should keep private vehicles outside of the CBD and only allow public service vehicles. So I simply said her thoughts were uniquely opposite the traditional proposal,” said Mayor Manyenyeni, referring to the existing belief that it was kombis that were the problem.

Looking to other cities, there are various solutions such as designated bus lanes, tariffs for driving in very central parts, or a recent one in Paris which saw motorists with odd numbered plates being allowed to drive on certain days, and those with even numbers on the other. Given our unstructured and unreliable public transport network, these might not be the solution to Harare’s congestion woes, so we took to the streets to see what some of our readers thought, asking:

“Is the CBD congested? What do you think needs to be done?”

Actor Chikomo (51) – Taxi Driver “The roads are now impassable and City Fathers need to take action. They should create more one way roads but, if resources permit flyovers would be the best option.”

Innocent Badza (18) – Airtime vendor “There is a lot of congestion because roads have become smaller as there are too many cars now and council should widen the roads. Maybe four lanes on each side will be ok.

Morgen Dekete (35) – Computer programmer “Council is currently using tactics to deal with congestion and there is need for the formulation of a strategy that will bring a lasting solution. Stubborn drivers are also to blame, it is no longer only kombi drivers who drive badly and I think traffic authorities should do campaigns where they educate motorists on how to drive in congestion situations.”

Nicholas Masvosva (35) – Parking tout “Congestion is being caused by too many kombis that are getting into town. I think they should designate out of town ranks for kombis because they are the ones causing congestion.”

Sharon Magodyo – Community coordinator, Harare Residents Trust(HRT) “One way is for the council to start an exercise of registering all kombis and taxis operating in the CBD. This will increase revenue for council and the owners should pay a minimum $5 per day to the City’s traffic department. This will avoid the scenario where council has to chase after the kombis or taxis operating in undesignated areas, which puts people’s lives at risk every day. If council operates in an orderly manner and stops taking bribes, the situation can be put under control.”

Tafadzwa Chopamba (32) – Driver “Council should deploy traffic police to monitor main robots and major intersections. They should also give kombis that use mushikashika (illegal drop off points) proper areas to operate from that are manned by council officials 24/7.”

Talent (24) – Kombi driver “Putting one way streets is not a solution because people continue to buy cars every day and at the end the roads will not be enough so they should just widen the roads and maybe put flyovers to ease congestion.”

Tapiwa Mashingaidze – Chairperson, Commuter Transport Development Network Zimbabwe “We have the congestion of corruption which leads to the disregard of all traffic rules and regulations. All decongestion operations will not succeed because law enforcement agents are now working to line their pockets and to satisfy their cartels. There is need for an all-inclusive traffic and transport watchdog in order to decongest the City.”