By Staff Reporter
MASVINGO – The City of Masvingo has finally moved long distance buses from the
Central Business District to the Mucheke Bus Terminus, ending years of failed
enforcement and resistance from transport operators that had seen the directive
delayed since 2022.
The relocation, which took effect today (September 8, 2026), follows a directive issued
by Mayor Alec Tabe during a full council meeting last week, when he gave bus
operators a oneweek ultimatum to vacate informal loading points in town, including Old
Croco Motors and Chicken Inn, and comes after the recent evacuation of all
Mushikashika taxis from the CBD to designated areas at Old Aroma and the main
Chicken Inn.
The move marks a significant victory for the local authority, which had made repeated
resolutions to relocate buses since 2022 but consistently failed due to operator
resistance, coordination challenges between municipal police and ZRP, and the poor
state of facilities at Mucheke Rank.
Mucheke Bus Terminus was abandoned over a decade ago, with buses shifting to
scattered, unregulated points in the CBD. The issue first resurfaced in June 2022 when
Full Council resolved that all buses should use Mucheke from June 1. Nearly two weeks
later, nothing had happened, with then Mayor Collen Maboke at the time blaming
coordination issues between municipal police and ZRP.
In August 2022, council suspended the resuscitation “pending completion of road
rehabilitation” and proposed a minirank at Croco Motors instead.
In February 2023, council resolved to take over refurbishment of Mucheke Rank directly
to speed it up. Between 2024 and 2025, reports continued to describe the refurbishment of Mucheke Rank as a “pipedream.” Council had wanted to upgrade it to a “state-of-the-art
rank” with private partners, but buses remained loading in the CBD.
During the recent full council meeting, councillors raised concerns over the state of
Mucheke Rank, arguing that the council should renovate it before moving buses.
However, Mayor Tabe stood his ground, insisting that all necessary renovation works
would be done while buses were already operating at the rank.
“We will work on that while the buses are there. Out of every chaos there is a solution.
Moving buses to Mucheke would also create more space for mushikashika to operate
locally,” Tabe said.
The move is expected to decongest the city centre and allow local mushikashika
operators to have designated operating areas in town but outside the CBD.
The relocation has been welcomed by many residents who are already seeing a change
and order in town.
Shop owners operating at Mucheke Rank have expressed gratitude, as the return of
buses is expected to boost business.
However, vendors who had been plying their trade at Old Croco Motors and other
informal bus loading points have been hurt by the relocation, as the buses were a major
source of customers for their goods.
The recently adopted 20year master plan to 2045 aims at creating a commercial
corridor linking Mucheke Bus Rank to the CBD.
This proposal indicates that the relocation is part of a larger vision to restore order and
improve the city’s spatial governance.
