LUSAKA, ZAMBIA – Jeyman Sakala, a minibus driver, sits in a pub playing games with other drivers. The drivers are waiting for their minibuses to fill up so they can depart on their routes throughout the Libala township of Lusaka, Zambia’s capital.
By 1:30 p.m., five drivers are waiting and five minibuses are lined up. Not even the first vehicle in line is full yet. (As many as 20 people cram into a minibus during rush hour.) After 2 p.m., Sakala, who has been driving minibuses since 2008, and another driver decide not to wait any longer.
Both men head for their minibuses and take off into the township to try to pick up passengers on the roadside – a practice both men acknowledge is illegal. After just a few minutes of driving, both minibuses are full. The ones in the queue back at the makeshift bus station are still empty.
His bus loaded, Sakala speeds towards Mtendere, another Lusaka township. He says he drives as fast as he can so he can make as many pickups and dropoffs as possible.
He says he can’t afford to play by the rules.
He pays his employer – the owner of the minibus he drives – 600 kwacha ($94) a day. He keeps only the money he makes above that amount. But he earns just 20 kwacha ($3) per passenger, so he says he must pick up as many passengers as possible to earn a living.
“It is tough! You have to be creative to make it,” he says.
Sakala is not alone in breaking the rules to make a living as a public transportation driver here. He says picking up passengers on the street is illegal for a reason – minibuses block the roads when they’re stopped, and they can cause accidents when they stop abruptly to pick up passengers.
The Road Transport and Safety Agency assesses fines for picking up passengers outside of designated areas. Fines range from 270 to 540 kwacha ($42 to $85), Sakala says.
But he, and many other local drivers, say they must risk the fines because there are more drivers, higher costs and fewer passengers than there were a few years ago.
Public transportation drivers throughout Lusaka say increasing competition for passengers and rising operational costs force them to resort to illegitimate tactics like speeding, picking up passengers outside designated stops and cutting into traffic.
While drivers claim they are just trying to make a living in a changing industry, commuters complain of high accident rates and unprofessional conduct.
In Zambia, private individuals provide public transportation. The Road Transport and Safety Agency regulates the industry.
The number of vehicles on the roads of Zambia is rising rapidly, according to the Global Road Safety Partnership, an international non-profit organization that bring governments and businesses together to address road safety needs. The number of registered vehicles here soared from 181,000 in 2006 to more than 357,000 in 2013.
While battling increased competition and decreased business as more Zambians are driving themselves, minibus drivers say they must also cover the rising cost of doing business.
In addition to paying daily fees to their employers, drivers must buy increasingly expensive fuel – the pump price of gasoline rose more than 7 percent this April – and pay fees to the local authority that manages bus stops.
On top of those legitimate expenses, minibus drivers say they are forced to pay bribes to corrupt Road Transport and Safety Agency officers.
Cosiver Muwo, a former bus driver, says corrupt transport agency officers drove him to quit his job about two years ago.
Using makeshift roadblocks, agency officers often stop minibuses and demand bribes to let them pass, Muwo says. Drivers who refuse to pay are often charged with traffic violations.
Drivers say they must flout traffic rules to transport enough passengers to cover these costs and earn a living wage.
But the transit drivers’ actions are making the roads unsafe, says Rae Hamoonga, deputy public relations officer of the Zambia Police Service.
Last year, 29,118 accidents occurred in Zambia, a 3 percent increase from 2012, according to a police press release.
However, the number of traffic fatalities dropped from 2,360 in 2012 to 1,851 last year, according to a 2014 press release from the Zambian Road Safety Trust, a nonprofit organization that seeks to create awareness of road safety.
Speeding is one of the chief causes of road accidents in Zambia, according to research conducted by a student at the University of Zambia’s school of law.
Road accidents are the third leading cause of death in Zambia, behind Malaria and AIDS, according to Mubita Austern’s 2010 paper, “An Assessment of the Effectiveness of the Law in Curbing Road Traffic Accidents.”
While the number of public transportation drivers is increasing, the number of passengers is decreasing.
“A lot of people have also bought cars and do not need to get on buses,” Sakala says. “This has also brought about a lot of congestion on the streets, and the road network is poor.”
New car sales in Zambia are sure to keep growing, according to Business Monitor, a publication that provides independent analysis of countries, industries and financial markets.
“Zambia's strong economic fundamentals, such as substantial investment inflows to the mining sector, improving productivity in the copper sector, expansionary fiscal policy and a rise in private consumption, will prove beneficial to the long-term outlook for auto sales,” the publication reported in August 2014.
The addition of so many minibuses and private vehicles has clogged the roadways.
To earn a passable living in such conditions, drivers speed, use illegal routes, cut into traffic and pick up passengers at undesignated spots, Sakala says.
Customers say such practices make them feel unsafe.
“I don’t know where to find the ones that don’t break the rules,” passenger Emmanuel Nizeyimiana says. “Sometimes they follow the rules, other times they don't, but the latter is more dominant.”
Mercy Mwila, senior public relations manager for the transport agency, says she is aware of traffic officers demanding bribes from bus drivers.
“We all know that there are laws against that,” she says. “It’s called contravening.”
Mwila declined to comment further, saying she would have to seek clearance from the agency’s director to speak about corruption in greater detail.
Hamoonga also says there are laws against demanding and paying bribes. Police and prosecutors encourage citizens to report corrupt traffic officers to the police or the Anti-Corruption Commission, he says.
Many commuters are unaware of the rising costs, competition and corruption costs faced by public transportation drivers.
Nizeyimiana dismisses drivers’ excuses and says the problem is a lack of discipline and professionalism.
“They believe the road is their office, and they do what they want,” Nizeyimiana says. “Some have qualifications but are not applying professionalism.”
He opposes all of the drivers’ traffic violations.
“A simple mistake can cause death,” he says.
Kelvin Kobili, another commuter, says fines and penalties should be increased. He even supports prison sentences for drivers who endanger passengers.
The Road Development Agency in Zambia is in the midst of several projects to expand and improve road networks in the country.
The state of transport infrastructure in the country remains inadequate, according to an August 2014 report from the Zambia Development Agency, a government agency responsible for fostering economic growth and development.
The report also details the Accelerated National Roads Construction Programme, which aims to rehabilitate roads, reduce road user costs and travel times across Zambia, and create a better road network throughout Zambia.
This project would see the construction of international highways linking Zambia to its neighbors, such as Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The roads would also link to other southern African countries such Namibia and South Africa.
The timeline for completion is yet to be confirmed.
Sakala says he looks forward to the improved roads.
In the meantime, he says he will continue to “be creative” in his driving habits. That’s what it takes to make a living driving a minibus, he says.
