MUNICIPAL COUNCIL CONTRADICTS MUNICIPAL POLICE

Maputo Municipal Council has flatly denied the claims made on Thursday by the spokesperson for the Municipal Police, Enoque Paulo, that unlicensed vehicles are now allowed to carry passengers during the morning and evening rush hours because of the acute shortage of transport in Maputo.Paulo initially made this claim to the independent television station, STV. On Friday, the Maputo daily “Noticias” contacted him, and he reaffirmed that, as an exceptional measure, the unlicensed mini-buses will be allowed to operate between 06.00 and 09.00 and between 15.00 and 20.00.Even in the middle of the day, between 09.00 and 15.00, when there is not such a heavy demand for transport, the police were considering allowing the unlicensed vehicles to carry passengers, as long as they operated the whole of the recognised routes and did not shorten them.But this tolerance of unlicensed vehicles had not been cleared with the Municipal Council itself. The municipal councillor for transport, Joao Matlombe, categorically denied that the Council had given any authorisation for vehicles not licensed by the Council to carry passengers at any time of day or night. On the contrary, he told “Noticias”, that the Municipal Police had been given instructions to step up their activities against the unlicensed operators. The Council, he added, was reorganising transport in the city, and it made no sense to strike any kind of deal with operators whose vehicles are illegal. He stressed that no order had been given to the Municipal Police to tolerate the unlicensed minibuses. The vehicles in question are mostly 15 seater minibuses, and the Council announced more than two years ago that such vehicles would no longer be licensed. Instead, private transport vehicles should have seats for at least 25 passengers.