The Road Transport and Safety Agency has with immediate effect suspended the Road Service Licence (RSL) for Mr. Aubrey M’membe of Kabwe the owner of the bus that was involved in a road traffic accident where 25 people died in Kabwe.
The Agency is concerned with the poor road safety record for Mr. Aubrey M’membe whose road safety records reveal that two of his buses were involved in terrible road traffic accidents on 30th April, 2013 and the recent one on 9th April, 2016 respectively.
On 9th April 2016, one of Mr. M’membe’s buses, a Mercedes Benz Bus registration number ACZ 4829 driven by the late Moses Phiri was involved in a road traffic crash with a Wada Chovu bus along Great North Road, 17km from Kabwe and about 3km from Manyumbi toll gate resulting in twenty (25) people losing their lives and thirty (34) others injured.
RTSA noted that from its records that this is not the first time that Mr. M’membe’s buses have been involved in an accident resulting in many people losing their lives.
On 30th April 2013, another bus a Toyota Hiace Minibus registration number ACP 3052 belonging to Mr. M’membe was involved in accident at Ibis Gardens in Chisamba and a total number of eighteen (18) people lost their lives.
Arising from that accident, the Agency suspended the operator’s Licence for a period of three months for operating outside the designated locality.
RTSA’s preliminary investigations reveal that both drivers in this case were driving at excessive speed and therefore failed to prevent the accident from happening.
In a letter addressed to Mr. Aubrey M’membe, RTSA Chief Executive Officer Mr. Zindaba Soko stated that subsection (16) of section 108 of the Road Traffic Act empowers the Director of the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) to either suspend or revoke a Road Service Licence if the conditions subject to which the Road Service License was granted are not being complied with.
Mr. Soko added that the Agency has a responsibility of ensuring the safety of all road users and will in this regard not hesitate to invoke its powers under section 108 of the Act either to suspend or to revoke the Road Service Licence of any operator that has a bad road safety record.
To this effect, the RTSA has with immediate effect suspended the operator’s Licence for Mr. M’membe pending revocation.
The Agency has since given Mr. M’membe seven days to show cause why the Road Service Licence should not be revoked following the effected suspension.
And the RTSA has also given Wada Chovu Transport an ultimatum of seven days to show cause why their Road Service Licence should not be revoked or suspended for failure to comply with conditions subject to which it was granted.
Failure to do so within the prescribed period will leave the Agency with no option but to suspend or revoke the RSL.
On 9th April 2016, a Wada Chovu bus registration number AJB 6340 was involved in a road traffic accident when it collided with a Mercedenz Benz Bus registration number ACZ 4829 leaving 25 people dead and several others injured.
The driver of the Wada Chovu bus failed to keep to his lane as he was trying to avoid a stationery truck which was completely off the road and eventually resulted into head-on collision with the other bus.
Preliminary accident investigation conducted by the RTSA revealed that the driver of the Wada Chove bus was over speeding.
In a letter addressed to the Managing Director of Wada Chovu Transport, RTSA Director, Mr. Soko stated that Section 108 subsection (11) of the Road Traffic Act, provides that compliance with the provisions of the Act is an implied condition of the Road Service Licence (RSL).
There should be prosecution of such businesses if someone somewhere broke the law. Re there laws that call for punitive measures? I hope the businesses are insured so that families of the victims should be compensated.
uku lyamo!!! that’s what is causing problems,,, uku lyamo starts ku state house, ba lungu increased his own salary ,,,, while freezing common kapokola`s salary,,,, so what do you expect???
Too little too late… These guys should be proactive and not being reactionary. Therein lies the problem.
This isn’t going to stop further accidents in the future. They need to get to the root causes of these accidents, many of them have been highlighted by bloggers on this blog.
They should also ban these small vans they call buses from operating interested-town transportation of people.
time and time again i have said, as long as this useless Zindaba Soko remains RTSA boss accidents will never end. first in his inept and warped thinking he n
blames a small fish in the whole saga, secondly as usual its over speeding, the easiest scapegoat for RTSA for not doing a professional investigation. This Soko zindaba will cause indaba of accidents in Zambia. he does not qualify to lead the most corrupt institution in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa
WITH ALL THESE ACCIDENTS AND DEATHS, THIS IS WHEN RTSA IS ONLY SUSPENDING LICENSES! WHAT A BUNCH OF CORRUPT JOKERS. RTSA, WHILE YOU ARE DEALING WITH THOSE OPERATORS, SIMULTANEOUSLY, DEAL WITH YOUR STINKING CORRUPTION. ALL THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF RTSA MUST BE DISMISSED. I CAN’T BELIEVE THESE JOKERS HAVE NOT WITHDRAWN LICENSES AND STOPPED THESE BUSINESS FROM OPERATING WITH SUCH RECORDS OF DEATH! THESE ARE CORRUPT 1D1OTS.
BA LT, WHO WRITES ARTICLES FOR YOU? THE TITLE OF THIS ARTICLE IS VERY MISLEADING. RTSA HAS DONE NOTHING TO CURB LOSSES OF LIFE. THERE IS NO POLICY FORMULATION PUT IN PLACE FOR CURBING WHATEVER. CAN YOU EMPLOY AT LEAST GRADE 12s TO WRITE ARTICLES FOR YOU. MIND YOU IN ALL YOUR ARTICLES THERE ARE STUP1D ERRORS THAT EVEN A GRADE 4 CAN CORRECT.
The one who is delaying to upgrade this Lusaka /ndola Road into a dual carriage way because he has stolen or diverted the money should be blamed and fired weather President or not.
Being reactive than Proactive. The Whole RTSA has no clue on managing the institution. They are so corrupt and will never mover our country forward. this st.upid Soko is just talking nonsense to serve his job. Explain how you own shares / take bribes from some of these bus companies.
I thought this guy Soko would have announced his resignation? This guy has no clue.
Why not give true justice to Zambians? RTSA and ZP, deal with the corruption in your own backyard first. You know where the real problem is and only you can stop the rot.
Bravo kudos for talking sense for the very first time.
For the first time you are talking sense. I salute you.
It is high time RATSA started instituting punitive measures against those who flout the rules of the roads in the process endangering the lives of the passengers they carry and other road users. Over speeding by these passenger vehicles is the major cause of these accidents. Each time I am in Zambia driving, I always slow down to give way to over speeding buses.
I am I reading the news correctly! The other articles said Wada Chove bus was avoiding the truck therefore causing the accident, secondly Mazandu bus was also involved in so many accidents but only warning them without taking similar. RTSA is going for small fish and avoiding problems cause my big operates.
Comment: Why is RTSA applying punitive measures selectively? Why is Mazhandu whose accident caused loss of life and had another accident within the same week not facing punitive measures? Is this a case of settling for a ‘convinient’ scape goat to make an example? Iam very interested in effective & sustainable long term measures RTSA is putting in place to ensure compliance with conditions or stipulations contained in a public transporter operator licence.
THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION IS THAT, BECAUSE RTSA STINKS WITH CORRUPTION. THE CORRUPTION STINKS LIKE UBUSALI BWABO BANYAR. THE GOVERNMENT MUST FIRST GET RID OF THESE BUNCH OF CORRUPT STINKERS. THEN START AFRESH WITH NEW SETS OF POLICIES AND LAWS THAT BITE EVEN DIRECTORS. I CAN’T BELIEVE ALL GOVERNMENTS HAVE BEEN JUST MUTE ON THESE CORRUPT RTSA AND THE DEATHS CAUSED BY THEIR CORRUPTION. DEAL WITH THESE CORRUPT CHAPS.
Its so sad for people to die like this. More safety measures must be put in place starting with Speed Traps. The govt must invest heavily in Speed traps every 20 to 40 kms between the Copperbelt and Lusaka, Kapiri and Nakonde, Lusaka and Livingstone, Lusaka and Chipata and other major routes. This will be a practical on the ground and very effective way of saving lives. The investment will pay off as it will save lives and nothing is more precious than a Human Life.
I hear speed, bad roads….etc, what about the blood alcohol level of the driver?
Wada Chovu caused the accident but you punish the other guys. What kind of reasoning is this? And what of Mazhandu? 3 accidents in a week but they are still freely “roaming the streets”. Corruption at its best!
Jessy, I couldn’t have said this any better. My thoughts exactly. One causes the accident, the other also suffers, and the worst of them goes without reprimand. Selective punishment
That`s Zambia the real for you.
Suspended for how long? Or have you left this open-ended pending the day you receive the brown envelope? And you call that “tough action?” What a mockery! That suspension may last only a few days. What does the law say?
For the first time you are talking sense. I salute you.
After this punitive measure, there will be no more accidents in Zambia! Go RATS go!
RTSA and ZP, institute vehicle mounted and ordinary speed traps everywhere not too many road blocks which serve no purpose. People have nothing to fear because one can drive from Livingstone to Chililabombwe or Nakonde without meeting a s peed trap save for road blocks soliciting for something.
We only need a very tiny fraction of what we send those hideously overpriced road contracts, to modernize and input all Zambian registered motor vehicles on a database(a million dollars) …once that is done manned checkpoints will be a thing of the past. A fixed speed camera on the highway or black spot will simply take a picture of your vehicle’s reg plates. Police will have to access the database to have a reason to pull you over or dedicate resources to where they are needed.
What’s the background of these executives at RTSA? Why do we have a cavalier approach to issues especially where there is loss of life? These RTSA people are not tackling the underling issues; like over-speeding of buses, competence of drivers, long driving hours, insurance of buses; what the Insurance covers especially where the bus company is at fault and there is loss of life. The problem we have in Zambia is that the elite and everyone is in the bus business hence no one is brave enough to make pragmatic changes in the interest of passengers and road users.
In developed countries any Jim and Jack simply can not just wake up and start a bus company…there is too much paperwork to deal with as they value the lives of their citizens hence ask in return great deal of responsibility and…
CONT’D
and professionalism from the operator. eg running a bus company is likened to owning an airline.
Its like management at RTSA is not aware that gadgets exist and are on the market that when mounted on vehicles can control speed limits and any tampering can be detected by the controlling authority. Thus why not invest in such gadgets working out modalities/law on obligating all passenger service vehicles to have one affixed! If I am right there is a law requiring buses limit speed to 80 km/hr! Drastic interventions if only to curb more accidents from happening should be introduced even if not favorable to operators!
This is a cosmetic measure. Ndola-Lusaka road is one very irritating, stressful, tiring road to drive on. Its narrow, it has so many horizontal curves, its always congested (I have spent 30mins following six trucks driving at 70km/h before). So instead of suspending operator licences a serious engineering & structural investigation should be done that should lead to redesigning the road to meet its current user requirements.
@ Itizi turu, it’s true.
@Jay Jay, I have to agree with you. You have said it very well, the RATSA executive are a serious let down. Sorry Ba RATSA but there is more you can do than useless road blocks where Traffic and Ratsa officers never even ask passengers on Public transport whether drivers are driving safely or overspeeding, its a joke really but a sad joke that costs precious lives. Invest in road safety equipment such as speed cameras and traps this is really the number one initiative that will save lives, whether tyres are worn out or a vehicles doesn’t have fitness fact remains if it is moving at a low or reasonable speed even a tyre burst at 60kms/ hour as oppossed to 120kms/ hour will rarely result in a fatality.
Closing the stable doors after the horse has bolted? Is Mr M’membe’s license being suspended because this is the second accident involving his buses? Besides, the director further then states that the Wada Chovu bus left its lane – hence the head on collision. A confusing set of facts on which to base the suspensions on. What about Mazhandu? It seems, as others have observed, all the major underlying factors that have been a major contributing reason for a lot of such accidents in Zambia, are being ignored.
That’s what you get when you Zombies like Zindaba Soko running important institutions – no clue of what he supposed to be doing! What a mess they have made of Zambian Road Safety!
UPND will have to dissolve this important Agency and start afresh. We cant continue like this with these foo.lish PF cadres! The mother fuc.kers have to go so that we can do the right things!
Suspend the poor road too!
RTSA shuld sack the entire management including corrupt dumb Patrol Police on the ground. Kwa liba sure, the same black spots between Landless corner, Kabwe, Chimbombo to Kapiri keep taking innocent lives. That’s where the speed traps can be installed…. Coach drivers must be breathalysed at these points and Trackers permanently embedded under the speedo metre.
A re-think to recall back United Bus Company would truly stop this carnage. Their safety record was second to none. The firm only hired qualified drivers from recognised. All these Kaponya private operators are in it for profit only led by crafty Politicians who monopolise the transport industry.
While RTSA takes tough action action to curb accidents, government shud also take tough action to curb corruption at RTSA bc that’s the root cause of all these accidents. Pipo need to be fired.
RATSA should compel all public buses to stick their tool free lines in buses. people may want to report to RATSA or police but where to get lines. If police and RATSA lines were stuck in public buses passengers will quickly call them when problems arises
RATSA’s so called tough action will not resolve carnage on our roads. In Chipata, we have just lost 7 people. RATSA should have imposed a speed limit for all buses to adhere to on our highways. due to the poor state of our roads and the number of cars on the roads, an 80Km/h should be imposed on cargo transport and buses. Private cars should not go over 90km/h. All public transport to be fitted with speed limit devises. Then address other challenges as suggested by others. Better for passengers to arrive late than dead.
Too many macho drivers on Zambian roads. Just after witnessing the carnage at Manyumbi, several careless drivers overtook me at high speed on blind corners.
One would thought such drivers are on some drugs. There should be more frequent drug checks on public utility drivers.
Going after the small fish and letting the big sharks go scot free
Zindaba must resign if at all he still has any grain of morals left in him! He and his corrupt officers (right from licensing office to highway patrol section) have blood of accident victims on their hands. Since I know you won’t stand aside as no African Leader ever resigns no matter the amount of anguish they may cause citizens, at least do this: be proactive and not reactive. You bought highway patrol fleets yet patrol no trouble spots.
SIMPLY AMAZING…..WE ARE SUSPENDING YOUR BOXING LICENSE BECAUSE YOU HAVE BEEN HIT BELOW THE BELT TOO MANY TIMES….MARBLES ARE PRECIOUS but you continue to pull your shorts way up till they are too visible to your opponents, ..And you there, your hand speed is too much…..you need to slow down so that we can be sure you went for the marbles.
I am not entirely sure I understand the reasoning in this article. I am told that the Wada Chovu driver did not keep to his lane and ended up hitting the other smaller bus. Why is the proprietor of this small bus being canned then? To what extent was the driver of the small bus responsible for that terrible accident? Just for being on the road? It beats me. Somebody explain to me, please.
@28 what do you expect from a person put as CEO of RTSA simply coz of patronage. RTSA is support is suppose to carry out through professional investigations before coming to conclusion but all the inept Soko knows is, over-speeding. every time a fatal accident happens its over speeding according to gospel of St Zindaba Soko. even when he is talking, he fails to convince himself first.
I repeat, RTSA and ZP traffic officers are the most corrupt in the all of sub-Saharan Africa.
No logic in RTSA actions. the one who is right has his licence suspended….God help us.
This RATSA position doesn’t fit Zindaba Soko. From a mere Ministry of Finance Driver straight to CEO, awe this one was an extremely wrong appointment
Most of the public drivers are not properly trained. The owners of the buses have not invested in there drivers interested in profits only. Compare passenger trasport accidents with cargo transporters is this a coincidence or witchcraft on the part of these transporters. This is a spiritual battle and RSTA has no capacity to provide solutions. Mark my words.
Revoking the licenses for public bus operators is no a solution to reduce fatal road accidents. This ahas been a song we hear day in day out. The Govt. should declare our roads a national disaster especially between Lusaka and Kapiri Mposhi. Why cant RTSA and Traffic Police increase the number of motorized patrols on this stretch of the road whilst waiting for funds to construct a dual carriage way. We see a lot of RTSA vehicles being used by senior staff instead of being deployed on patrols. Even the majority of bus operators are just interested in making profits and have no regards for staff welfare and passenger safety. Whenever there are traditional ceremonies RTSA makes its self busy sensitizing people at such functions yet they do little to educate the bus owners, crews and members…
What I fail to understand is why criminal charges can’t be laid against those who have a hand in the death of so many people in one way or another. There has to be charges ranging from negligence, manslaughter and even murder. Someone has to be answerable and culpable. Suspending a licence isn’t enough. Where there is death, for goodness sake, lay criminal charges. It’s not just the drivers who are culpable for the death, everyone involved must be prosecuted. That way you will send a message. You can even lay charges against a dead person.
Let me start by advising RTSA to always do a prevent measure and not always giving penalties after people have already lost their precious lives.every time u do an investigation,it’s over speeding the causer of an accident.What measures have taken to bring down Mr over speeding. Or u are waiting for anothe 54 lives to perish,then u can start pronouncing penalties.shame on u people.start sensitising people on Hw to b or exercise patience . introduction of refresher courses for PSV drivers an non PSV. Don’t do this for gains no.do it to save the people of zambia.put an affordable amount so that people can afford.most learn driving from their homes or maybe from their relatives or even from friends and they have no idea what it is like to be on the road.but if we can introduce these…
MY FOOT. RTSA SHOULD IMMEDIATELY START DEALING WITH VEHICLE OWNERS WHICH PARK WITHIN TWO METERS AWAY FROM THE MAIN ROADS HERE IN TOWN AND ON TRUNK ROADS.
THIS IS A VERY SERIOUS CONCERN AS ZAMBIA’S POPULATION INCREASES. IN FUTURE RTSA WILL NOT CONTROL THIS SAD SITUATION.
AN ACCIDENT OF THIS NATURE HAPPENED IN CHILANGA AT MIMOSA TURN OFF. TWO SOUTH AFRICAN TRUCKS PARKED ON LEFT HAND SIDE OF THE ROAD LEADING TO THIS UNFORTUNATE ACCIDENT. ONE COULD SEE THAT THE POLICE OFFICERS WERE IN THE FOREFRONT OF DESTROYING EVIDENCE. WHAT SORT OF COUNTRY ARE WE LEAVING OUR CHILDREN WITH?
ZAMBIA IS ONE COUNTRY WHERE PEDESTRAINS CROSS ROADS ANYWHERE AT ANY TIME. BA RTSA, IN SWAZILAND AND SOUTH AFRICA, IF A PEDESTRIAN DOES NOT CROSS ON A DESIGNATED POSITION, THE POLICE ARREST THEM AND THEY ARE…
I have repeatedly said dogs have come on our roads masquerading as drivers. The only achievement RTSA has made in this country is to teach the so called drivers how to misuse the hazard indicators on the vehicles. A foolish dog will stop in the middle of the road talking to another fellow dog, when another motorist approaches from behind, all the dog will do is apply hazard indicators. Do those lights remove the obstacle from the road? Let all the dogs that do this answer me.
To some, courtesy has been misunderstood to have replaced road traffic rules, laws and order, like this wada chovu DogRIVER, most dogs today do not want to stick to their lane when an obstruction is on their lane and wait for the oncoming driver with the right of way to pass before they can leave their lane and…
I agree with 36. driving in zambia is so bad that this kind of accidents will not end at all. When a vehicle breaks down, the vehicle overtaking it does not wait for the on coming vehicle to pass instead the stupid guy just flashes the lights. Very common on Chingola /Chililabombwe road. There are trucks carrying logs in Chingola that do not have any traffic lights on them,…shockingly you see them being waved on by the police. When Zaza is off duty watch the congestion at Mwaiseni. Let us have more people of ZAZA type in police. He is a bad guy to law breakers but excellent to those that follow rules. If only Chingola had more of these.