Harare Yobhana MakombiThe Harare City Council is planning to ban Kombis in the next thre years a development which is said to being pushed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s notorious business cartel—popularly known as Zvigananda, so that they capture the lucrative commuter transport sector.
Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume, who is aligned with opposition renegade Sengezo Tshabangu, is reportedly facilitating this agenda under the guise of “urban renewal.” The move is widely seen as a front for loot Mnangagwa’s
administration.The Zvigananda cartel—so named for its shadowy blend of Zanu PF cronies and business elites—is already deeply embedded in corrupt state tenders, including the scandal-ridden Pomona waste deal. Their blueprint is simple: hijack public services, privatise them under state blessing, and extract maximum profit from desperate citizens.
Now, they want the commuter omnibus sector.
Under Harare’s newly adopted 2025–2045 Master Plan, all kombis will be banned in the next three years, while pirate taxis—mishikashika—face immediate outlawing. Authorities argue this will reduce congestion and accidents. But behind the public relations spin lies a deeper plot: to replace small, independent transport operators with cartel-owned buses and services.
Insiders say Mafume’s council is acting on directives from Local Government ministry controlled by Mnangagwa. Tshabangu, who controversially seized control of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) in Parliament with suspected state backing, is also reportedly part of the wider effort to neutralise opposition-led municipalities and facilitate looting.
Critics say this is a repeat of the COVID-19 era, when kombis were banned and the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (Zupco)—a state-linked entity with ties to Mnangagwa’s associates—briefly monopolised urban transport, raking in profits while offering poor service.
