Transporters fight over passengers

Zimbabwean Ray Dokotela-Moyo, owner of Dokotela Omnibus Company appeared in court in Bulawayo on Friday last week charged with inciting two men to kill Sibonginkosi Moyo, an inspector at Fellowship Bus Company, another big transporter on the route. Dokotela-Moyo accuses Moyo, who lives in Francistown of frustrating his business interests in Botswana.

Dokotela-Moyo appeared before Bulawayo magistrate, Sikhumbuzo Nyathi and was granted bail of Z$50 million (P1,000 using official exchange rate or P71 on parallel market). Prosecutor Jeremiah Mutsindikwa said that on January 16 this year, Dokotela-Moyo invited Tinashe Marima and Mathew Moyo to his offices in Thorngrove industrial area in Bulawayo and told them to kill Sibonginkosi Moyo because he was harassing his bus crews and passengers in Francistown. He allegedly said the harassment is affecting his business.

After telling the duo about the task, Dokotela-Moyo allegedly gave them money to travel to Francistown to kill Sibonginkosi Moyo. The plot unraveled after Marima and Mathew Moyo, who are close friends with the man they had been hired to kill, telephoned him in Francistown and alerted him about the murder plot.

After that Sibonginkosi Moyo travelled to Bulawayo and in the company of Marima and Mathew Moyo, confronted Dokotela-Moyo. But an unperturbed, Dokotela-Moyo is said to have wondered publicly why Sibonginkosi Moyo was still alive. He threatened to hire South African hitmen to finish him off.

Sibonginkosi Moyo later made a report to Bulawayo police, leading to Dokotela-Moyo's arrest.

The Gaborone-Francistown-Bulawayo route is a money-spinner for transporters as it is used by thousands of Zimbabwean informal cross-border traders who commute daily between Botswana and Zimbabwe to buy and sell various goods.

As a result, competition for business is stiff resulting in frequent confrontations between bus crews and bus operators. Dokotela-Moyo is being represented in the sensational case by Bulawayo lawyer, Mweliwenkosi Ncube who successfully applied for bail.