People who commute on the Francistown-Mandunyane road may find themselves in the lurch as bus and combi drivers threaten to strike to protest the recent 'reduction' of fares by the Department of Road Transport and Safety (DRTS).

The drivers say the decision to reduce the fare from P7.50 per passenger to P5.50 was done without consulting them.

"A transport officer just came to us and gave us letters stating that we should reduce the fares. This is surprising because we had not been informed of this move," claimed one driver who identified himself only as Chitore.

He said he was puzzled by the fact that the reduction has only been carried out on their route, while other routes have been left out. "The reason they are doing this to us is that most of us here are of the Zezuru tribe and they think we are ignorant," he charged.

Chitore said they have been threatened that their permits will be revoked if they do not comply with the order to reduce fares. "So we might just launch a strike because they do not want to listen to us," he said.

Francistown Bus/Taxi Association secretary, Dusani Tafila said he was shocked by the unprecedented reduction of the fares. He said although the transport department has not made a formal notification to the association, he is wondering why the move has not been published in the government gazette. From the information he has, Tafila said the decision came after some commuters complained that the fares were high. "If it is passengers who are complaining, I think the right procedure is that we should be informed of their complaints and be given the chance to give our side of the story," he said furiously. He wondered whether the DRTS has the powers to change transport fares whenever it feels like. "I believe these things should be communicated duly to those who are involved before taking drastic decisions," he said.

He said they are going to comply with the new fares before deciding what steps to take. He indicated that it is likely that they will down their tools in protest. "There is no reason for us to continue operating when we are running at a loss," he said.

Francistown DRTS station manager, Selela Tshwene refuted claims that the transport fares on the Francistown-Mandunyane route have been reduced saying it was a correction of the mistake made last December 2008 when the new fares were introduced.

"We have not actually reduced the fares but have corrected the mistake that has been there. We just realised recently that there has been a mistake made on the Mandunyane route when the new transport fares were introduced last year. The distance from Francistown to Mandunyane is 32.7km and when you calculate it with the recommended 16.86 thebe per kilometre you get around P5.50," he explained.Tshwene said they noticed the mistake after receiving numerous complaints from the commuters who had reported that they were over-charged. He said they held a meeting with the bus/combi drivers that operate on that route on November 16 to notify them about the intention to correct the fares.