04 Jul 2018

Hawking on mass transit buses is a common business practice across Africa. 

Come hell or high waters, for some, hawking has become a 24-hour ‘survival job,’ more especially in busy cities where money never sleeps. 

These small time traders who have become a common sight in buses barely eke a living from selling an assortment of wares ranging from cellphone accessories, snacks, drinks to fruits. 

In Botswana, such a survival tactic is common in big villages and cities that lie along the famous A1 Highway that stretches from Ramokgwebana to Ramatlabama. 

Nevertheless, hawking inside buses here, has seemingly become a nightmare for commuters. From BOPA’s observation and random interviews, it appears commuters have lost their sole right to travel in peace and the situation seems to be getting out of hand each day. 

At the Gaborone bus rank, hawkers follow each passenger, forcing them to squeeze past a jungle of bodies that mob one like a kettle of vultures landing on a carcass. Radiating with energy like molecules in an excited state, the hawkers shout their hearts out to whet one’s appetite - pie, drink le metsi (and water) - while others lean on seats ‘ready to pounce’, blocking the way and forcing passengers to squeeze through to locate seats. Perfumes, purses, power banks, bubble gums would be put on commuters’ laps in an attempt to force them to buy. 

Passengers would inevitably absorb and endure all the annoyance from these small time traders until the bus leaves the rank. 

Because it has become some sort of a survival of the fittest environment, occasional spats between some of these uncouth hawkers subject passengers’ ears to a cacophony of all sorts of unpalatable words one can think of. 

When passengers do not buy, the traders would disdainfully charge at them and ask uncouthly - ha lo sa reke lo batla re tshele ka eng? Naare bese e e palangwe ke majuta fela? E base ke ya dimumu (If you don’t buy, how do you expect us to survive? Is this bus full of Jews (stingy people?) This bus is full of dumb people?). Although the Department of Roads Transport and Safety (DRTS) public relations office would neither confirm nor deny the number of complaints received from commuters given that the issues are mostly handled before they could reach the office, the fact remains therein lies a problem. 

DRTS’ mouthpiece, Moses Babusi alludes briefly that “it should be noted that hawkers are causing disturbance to the travelling public by being noisy; some even use abusive language leading to some passengers deciding not to use public buses mainly because of hawkers.”

 Thirty-four-year-old Oliver Magudu of Mathangwane in the Central District once endured a five-hour heavy head feeling after a bucket full of ice and carbonated canned beverages slipped from the hands of a hawker and landed on his head.

 Magudu, who works in Maun and visits his home village monthly and during public holidays, still habours bad memories of his commuting experiences and when he recounts them, only ‘acid reflux’ comes out. 

He has seen it all - from being shouted at for not buying to hawkers vanishing into thin air with his change - a situation that, according to Nigeria City newspaper, has in 2013 seen Abuja Mass Transport Company ban the practice, citing annoyance hawkers subjected to commuters as the main reason. 

Babusi chips in to explain that the law does not prohibit hawkers at bus ranks as long as they conduct their business in the manner that does not infringe on the rights of others.

 He avers that ‘hawkers and how they do their business is not our mandate, but the mandate of operators to ensure that their customers receive a good service’. He adds that ‘the Road Traffic Act only recognises the permit holder, bus driver, bus conductor, law enforcement officers and there is nowhere in the road traffic or transport permit acts where hawkers are mentioned’. 

A member of the Botswana Bus Operators Association, Masego Bethele, would not provide any statistics because she says reports never reach her office. Bethele explains that given good fortunes in the bus sector over the years, operators have committed to giving their employees some training in a bid to improve customer relations to ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty. 

Sometimes Bethele would hop in a particular bus in a mystry shopping business so that she could observe and experience what commuters are exposed to. 

In the end, she concludes that bus operators are not aware of the situation. 

Along the A1 Highway and despite that the bus is filled to capacity with some passengers standing, hawkers will squeeze themselves through, sometimes without even bothering about the comfort of passengers given the state of weather, especially during summer. Such leaves one wondering about the state of Botho, a socially cohesive force that binds Batswana together. 

One wonders whether buses are run like shebeens a place where there is no ‘sorry’ and no ‘thank you’. Babusi concludes that his department treats customer service as paramount, hence they sometimes mount educational campaigns aimed at sensitising the general public on such during the holidays and other occasions such as commemorations. For a conducive bus ride for all, Bethele stresses the need for different players in the sector to join hands to improve the situation.  ENDS