Recently, I nearly missed a flight out of Harare due to my outdated travel planning. Traffic congestions are the order of the day, which is why I struggled to negotiate my way across the capital city to the airport, using my now misleading timings.

With so many imported cars of different shapes and sizes, the capital’s motor vehicle population has noticeably trebled in the past few years. “I now understand and appreciate government’s recent moves to reduce the number of imported cars on the basis of their years of manufacture, because the traffic population has become huge and almost unmanageable. Of course, knowing fellow Zimbabweans as I do, they will find other ways and means of easily purchasing even the latest motor vehicle models on the market,” remarks Nhlanhla, a mobile airtime vendor.

Underpaid police
The Harare roads, still very narrow and largely potholed, are dominated by uncompromising kombi* drivers, who only enjoy dazzling and dangling every other motorist and passengers into danger. The only thing on their mind is maximizing their profits.

With no known code of conduct among themselves, they are very rude, reckless and discourteous, and frequently drive through stop signs. They seem to get away with it all the time, because they bribe the vulnerable traffic police officers, who are underpaid.

Stringent regulations for errant drivers
Defective motor vehicles are on the increase, as garages charge dearly for spares, repairs and maintenance. Since they are a source of numerous accidents, some stringent regulations have been put into place. Minimum tread depth on any part of the tyre is now prescribed. This should eliminate the “snake belly smooth” tyres that were becoming a common feature on most cars during recent economic hardships.

Leave early
“Local is lekka! I usually prefer home made products, including motor vehicles,” says patriotic Tinashe. “Since our industry is as a good as dead, we have no choice but to depend on cheap second-hand, mostly Japanese cars in order for most families to be able to drive and park something for prestige. Even the heavy import duty imposed earlier on did not deter many potential owners, who still flocked to Durban or Musina in South Africa to collect their aged imports.”

So it seems the Harare traffic jams are here to stay. And the next time, if I do want to make sure that I'll catch that plane, there will be no other solution than to leave early. Very early.

* Mini-bus for public transport