|
|
Mozambique: Long Distance Bus Company At Risk of Bankruptcy
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
29 February 2008
Posted to the web 29 February 2008
Maputo
Pantera Azul, the first transport company to operate a luxury coach service between Mozambique and South Africa, is on the brink of collapse, according to a report in Friday's issue of the weekly paper "Savana".
Pantera Azul has survived for 15 years, but its managing director, Victor Rosende, warns that it could close its doors at any moment, due to the deteriorating conditions in the road transport sector.
Rosende blames the government. He told "Savana": that, although the government always declares that Mozambicans should be creative and enterprising, it does nothing to put these fine words into practice. Worse still, he accused, the government puts obstacles in the path of those who want to develop private businesses, and does nothing to protect local entrepreneurs.
For Pantera Azul is no longer alone in the cross border transport business. It is competing against several South African companies that run daily services between Maputo and Johannesburg. Rosende complained that the South Africans are able to carry out their business, without any problem, even though they are seriously damaging the interests of a Mozambican company.
Rosende says that his company never received any kind of financial support from the government - no money to buy new buses, no loans from the treasury (although several of the now notorious treasury loans from the early part of this decade went to other transport operators, who have not yet repaid them).
"I've tried to advance in my own way, but the policies don't help and there are many obstacles", he said. "I think I'm being persecuted, and I don't know why. But I'm surprised at such attitudes, because my company is genuinely Mozambican".
He claimed that in Mozambique everything is politicized, and a flexible approach to business matters involved political party influence.
Rosende's specific example of bureaucratic hindrance by a government body concerns his attempt to form a partnership with the South African company "Gauteng Coach". He said that on the South African side the paper work has been concluded, but on the Mozambican side, the documents have been in the Ministry of Transport for over a year without any decision being taken.
Rosende feared that he would lose this chance, because the managers of Gauteng Coach are becoming impatient. "This is my only hope", he said. "If the South Africans lose heart, I don't know what I'll do. I think the only way out will be to close the company and make 35 people unemployed".
Rosende's criticisms extend to the Federation of Road Transport Associations (FEMATRO) which he claimed is guided "by political interests". He accused FEMATRO chairperson Rogerio Manuel of speaking in the name of transport operators, but without agreeing anything with them first.
He complained that the fuel subsidy FEMATRO had negotiated with the government was "discriminatory" because it only covered minibuses used for passenger transport inside the major cities, whereas "the crisis in the transport sector is a general one"..
"The FEMATRO chairperson agreed everything with the government on his own, and today not all the transporters accept the proposal", Rosende said.
Manuel, however, dismissed Rosende's claims as untrue. He told the paper that Rosende "is free to say whatever he likes. But I have no comment other than to say that it's not true".
The national director of overland transport in the Transport Ministry, Olivio Pinto, was even less forthcoming. He merely told "Savana" there are "proper channels" that citizens can use to receive explanations on any matter being processed in the Ministry.
|
Pf/ (594)
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
