Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter
The late Reveni Chimhangwa’s family holds bitter-sweet memories of his time as a long-distance bus driver.
Chimhangwa, renowned as the first black man to drive the AM Express Long Chase Super Turbo Luxury Coach that travelled from Salisbury (Harare) via Bulawayo to Pretoria (Tshwane), faced challenges due to racial segregation.
Employed by Penny Hall and Sons, owners of Shu-Shine Bus Services, Chimhangwa was not permitted in the passenger section of the bus he drove, as it was exclusively for white passengers.
Despite being entrusted with their lives, many passengers travelling on the luxury coach were unwilling to tolerate his presence.
“He was not allowed inside the bus. He was, after all, a black MuKaranga. So, on one occasion, he was arrested while loading water into the whites-only section of the bus he drove,” his son, Remnant
Chimhangwa, shared from Namibia, where he currently resides.
Chimhangwa at home
There were rumours that the engines of AVM buses ran so hot that their drivers had to remove their shirts while driving. It was from the front seat of these sweltering vehicles, mainly operating between Shabanie (Zvishavane) and Bulawayo, that Chimhangwa witnessed history.
During his tenure at Shu-Shine from 1948 to 1973, he worked alongside Ajay Bhana, an engineer who later established Ajay Motorways. This was an era when chicken buses thrived, exemplified by F Pullen and Sons’ Hwange Special Express and Russell Noach’s Country Boy, which dominated the country’s highways.
Despite facing overwhelming segregation and racism, black bus operators such as Dokotela Moyo of Dokotela Buses and Gershom Maplanka of Fellowship Bus Services also achieved success. It was a time when bus drivers enjoyed great fame and renown.
AVM drivers, transporting passengers between urban and rural areas, where most families resided, became the superstars of the highway. Passengers who travelled on Mathias Rosen-founded Super Godhlwayo buses along the Bulawayo to Danangombe route in the Midlands Province fondly remember the driver known as Sphepheli, conductor Ambrose Mpofu and bus loader Matewu.
These names were constantly on people’s lips due to the significant roles they played in their lives.
Chimhangwa belonged to this esteemed group of gentlemen and experienced his fair share of adventures and misadventures.
During the war for the country’s liberation, one incident highlighted Chimhangwa’s misfortune. His bus conductor allegedly vanished with the money after the bus was ambushed by unknown assailants while transporting passengers to Nkayi.
“It was in the 1970s and the war was intensifying. The bus was ambushed somewhere in Nkayi, with shots fired from all directions as the bus crossed a river. The conductor, a man named Chimbwenene from Shabanie, simply told my father to return to the company and report that both the conductor and the money had been swept away by the river. The conductor was never seen again. The bus was recovered from the river and my father drove back to Renkini alone,” Remnant recalls.
Over the years, Renkini Bus Long Distance Terminus, along with the AVM buses that operated from there, has experienced a sad decline. Technological advancements have rendered the old AVM buses obsolete and replaced by sleeker, faster and more comfortable luxury coaches.
Abandoned bus shells now litter the depots, with only passengers left to reminisce about these once-mighty road titans. Economic challenges at the turn of the century, coupled with the failure of the founders’ heirs to sustain the business, have resulted in only a few remaining on the road.
While the popularity of AVM buses has waned, Renkini itself has seen better days. Once the bustling hub of Bulawayo’s transport system, the bus station is now a mere shadow of its former self, as several inter-city bus operators have abandoned it, opting instead for undesignated areas in the city centre as pick-up and drop-off points, often violating council by-laws.
These cat-and-mouse games between bus operators and the city’s enforcement authorities now provide regular entertainment for vendors and passers-by. The role of the terminus’s deteriorating infrastructure in its decline remains unclear.
Over the years, the council has repeatedly promised to revamp the terminus and modernize it for the 21st century. Last year, a council monthly report stated that the city authorities were considering redeveloping the terminus. Additionally, a consultancy firm was engaged to conduct a feasibility study to assess the project’s viability. In a way, the decline of the AVM buses parallels Chimhangwa’s career on the road, which ended uneventfully after he fell ill.
The late Reveni Chimhangwa
“He wasn’t given a pension despite working until his retirement due to medical reasons in 1977. Hall, simply told him to seek treatment for his swollen legs and said he could return to the company afterward. Nevertheless, he found solace in the fact that he possessed a badge indicating he was a driver, allowing him to travel on Shu-Shine Buses without paying fares,” Remnant said.
With his bus driving career behind him, Chimhangwa, who spent most of his working life in Lobengula, eventually retired and started his own business. He passed away at the age of 93.
“After retiring, he ventured into the property business in Masvingo. He established a grocery and carpentry shop at Chivi Growth Point. Later, he sold the land to the renowned Madondo of Gutu, who built his first shop there. My father peacefully rested from his labours on June 22, 2019,” Remnant shared.