Breaking News: PRESS STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
31st October, 2026
GOVERNMENT MUST PHASE OUT TOYOTA HIACE BUSES ON ZAMBIAN ROADS – THEY ARE DEATH TRAPS – ZRP
As the Zambia Republican Party (ZRP), we strongly appeal to the Government to immediately put in place urgent measures to begin phasing out Toyota Hiace and similar buses from operating as public mini-buses in Zambia.
These vehicles have killed thousands of our people over the years and no one seems to care.
As Zambia Republican Party, we are on record as having talked about this issue for many years now
In Japan where these vehicles come from, they are NOT manufactured to be passenger public transport. They are manufactured as cargo vans or at most 6-9 seater vans. But when they are brought into Zambia, they are crudely modified into 18 to 20 seaters and completely leave almost no room for legs. These modifications are done badly by ordinary welders in garages, with no engineering standards, no safety tests, and no reinforcement of the chassis, brakes or body.
That is why when accidents happen, these buses crush like tins and many lives are lost. I mean, any small mishap, passengers break their limbs and even die.
We know successive Governments have dragged their feet on this matter for fear of losing votes. But we are talking about human lives here, for goodness sake. How long are we going to watch our people die on our roads?
As Zambia Republican Party, we feel this time around, we must act as a nation for the sake of our people and begin to introduce suitable, factory-built buses such as the Mitsubishi Rosa, Toyota Coaster, Hino and Yutong buses to operate as local public transport, not modified vans.
*OUR CONCRETE PROPOSALS AS ZRP:*
*1. Give a 1-Year Grace Period:* Give a one-year grace period to those who already own Hiace buses to replace them with proper factory-built buses.
*2. Ban Importation:* Immediately ban the importation of Toyota Hiace and similar vans by individuals for use as public service buses.
*3. Increase Duty on Death Traps:* Increase import duty for Hiace buses and similar vans intended for public transport to at least 1000% to discourage their importation.
4. Reduce Duty on Safe Buses:* Reduce import duty for proper factory-built buses such as Rosa, Coaster, Hino and Yutong to as low as 10% for the next 5 years to make them affordable for bus operators.
5. Introduce a Strong SI: Introduce a Statutory Instrument (SI) which shall criminalize the use of Hiace buses on our roads as public transport after the phase-out period. The punishment must be stiff, with a jail sentence of a minimum of 5 years for offenders.
We are not blaming this problem on the current Government alone — this madness has been there for years. We are just appealing as a progressive and patriotic Party so that we can correct this anomaly once and for all for safety of our people.
We cannot believe that in this era, in 2026, we can still allow our own people to be transported like cargo or pigs in such dangerous vehicles.
Enough is enough. Human life must come first.
Wright Musoma
President
Zambia Republican Party (ZRP)
I agree because I have experienced the uncomfortableness of said buses. Now as soon as government responds to these cries,the people will condemn,the opposition will condemn.
I totally disagree with you. But look into these factors.
1. Poor maintenance of vehicles and bad roads
2. Poor drivers = inexperienced .. many of them learn driving from friends/relatives.
And driving anyhow. Example disregarding class of vehicles license B C D E
3. Pot holes
4. Lack of yearly inspection of vehicles