{"id":2071,"date":"2026-05-08T03:37:56","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T03:37:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/?p=2071"},"modified":"2026-05-08T03:44:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T03:44:44","slug":"mdata-drags-mutare-city-council-to-court-over-rank-relocation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/mdata-drags-mutare-city-council-to-court-over-rank-relocation\/","title":{"rendered":"MDATA Drags Mutare City Council to Court Over Rank Relocation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Fanuel Chinowaita<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
New Dangamvura Rank<\/em><\/strong> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

MUTARE, 8 May 2026<\/strong> – The Mutare and District Transporters Association (MDATA) has dragged Mutare City Council to court following the relocation of its commuter omnibus operating rank from the Mudzviti Bus Terminus to the Jameson Street rank, commonly known as the Old Rank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legal dispute comes amid recent changes by council to commuter omnibus and bus ranks in Mutare\u2019s central business district as authorities seek to bring order to the city\u2019s public transport system and curb rampant touting and illegal pirate taxis, commonly known as mushika-shika.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the new transport arrangement, council designated five commuter omnibus and bus ranks in the city centre, to be managed under registered transport associations including MDATA, MTA, SCUTTA, Urban Link and Progressive Family Trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sources within the transport sector said MDATA had initially been allocated the Mudzviti Bus Terminus rank before council later moved the association to the Jameson Street rank, a decision that sparked dissatisfaction among operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The association is now challenging the relocation through the courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a recent tour by councillors and council management, Mutare Mayor Councillor Simon Chabuka acknowledged growing discontent over rank allocations and conditions at some termini.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur people are not happy, the whole of Dangamvura is not happy,\u201d said Chabuka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking on the state of the Dangamvura rank, the mayor said poor infrastructure remained a major concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt night there is no light, there is too much dust,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chabuka called for urgent measures to improve facilities at the rank, including the installation of lights, gravel surfacing and enhanced security.
\u201cIf we can have lights, let\u2019s have lights. TC and DDC may you engage police so that we have a police base here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor now let\u2019s remain here while we are trying to improve by putting gravel and lights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the mayor said council could not fully discuss the MDATA matter because it was now before the courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe most important matter is security of the people here. For now we cannot discuss a lot because it\u2019s before the courts. We can\u2019t do anything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Efforts to  get a comment from MDATA were unsuccessful until the time of publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court challenge is expected to test council\u2019s transport reforms, which were introduced to decongest the city centre and restore order in the commuter omnibus sector. Operators, however, say rank allocations must be transparent and fair to avoid disrupting livelihoods and commuter services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Fanuel Chinowaita MUTARE, 8 May 2026 – The Mutare and District Transporters Association (MDATA) has dragged Mutare City Council to court following the relocation of its commuter omnibus operating rank from the Mudzviti Bus Terminus to the Jameson Street rank, commonly known as the Old Rank. The legal dispute comes amid recent changes by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2071"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2075,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2071\/revisions\/2075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}