Mugabe diverts toll gates funds

Investigations by The Zimbabwean last week showed that the government had collected close to US$15 million since tollgates were installed in August last year. But of this money, more than half or about US $9 million had gone towards the resurfacing of Bulawayo Road from the Kuwadzana roundabout towards Norton. Work is still in progress on resurfacing this road which leads to Mugabes Zvimba rural home.

Similar resurfacing work was completed in May on part of Harare Drive near Ashdown Park. The long-serving Zimbabwean leader regularly uses Harare Drive on his weekly sojourns to Zvimba. Most of the money from tollgates and anything else allocated by donors had so far gone towards improving road conditions on routes used by the President, a senior Ministry of Transport official said. Token maintenance work is being carried out on most other roads, with road brigades mostly carrying out temporary repair work such as patching up the potholes.

Transport Minister Nicholas Goche could not be reached for comment. Zimbabwe introduced toll gates in August last year as a way of mobilising resources for the rehabilitation and maintenance of the countrys road network. Small vehicle road users pay US$1 to cross the tollgates, while buses and lorries pay US$5 each. Motorbike and cyclists do not pay anything. Most of the country’s roads are in a state of disrepair with many littered with dangerous potholes as result of years of neglect and increased volume of traffic beyond designed carrying capacity.

Hundreds of Zimbabweans including some senior government leaders have perished in road accidents that experts have largely blamed on the poor state of roads. According to the Ministry of Transport, 30 percent of the countrys roads require rehabilitation, while the remainder needs periodic maintenance.