Calvin Manika
ALMOST a year after it was dismantled, the Hwange Truck Stop, largely known for a plethora of illegal dealings and commercial sex work is back with a bang.
Cinderella, a small compound and part of the Hwange colliery concession situated along Bulawayo – Victoria falls road has become an illegal rendezvous for trucks coming to Hwange to ferry coal.
The Hwange Truck Inn was closed by Hwange Colliery Company Limited in 2020 through a court order. According to official documents the closure was necessitated by health related reasons as it had been turned into a hub of sexual activities among other illicit deals.
Originally, truck stops or truck inns are areas designated to long distance truck drivers for them to take rest, check the vehicle and refresh. There are mainly characterised with a fuel station, restaurant and bathrooms.
Throughout history truck inns have proved to be healthy and a remedy to avoid accidents caused by fatigue. During the heydays of the Hwange Truck Inn, it was a place of boosing, prostitution and illegal dealing in fuel. Many sex workers around the country relocated to the coal town in search of fortune.
Soon after the closure of the facility, many people dispersed but few sex workers and fuel dealers remained behind and continued to squatter. Breakdown trucks have been the only accommodation for these people during the truck inn lifetime and its aftermath.
Recently, a group of people dealing in illegal fuel selling popularly known as ‘magokwe’ because of their origins from Gokwe have now opened Cinderella illegally as the new truck stop. ‘Magokwe’ are buying fuel from the truck drivers and resell it to locals. The situation is rendering Cinderella a ticking time bomb for the world two deadliest viruses HIV and Covid-19.
Residents speaking to the Zambezi Times complained of the illegally created truck stop as a hotspot for sexually transmitted diseases.
“Drivers are engaging in sexual activities with young children who have been home due to Covid-19 induced lockdown which forced the closure of schools indefinitely. Soon or later we will be witnessing pregnancies. But our most fear is the contracting of STIs,” said Annah Nkomo of Cinderella.
A member of ‘Magokwe’ who identified himself as Tau said, “we come here to find a living, our activities are confined to fuel only.”
Questioned on the role of sex workers on their illegal site, Tau said, “These people are all over the country, they must follow where men are available and making money. If you look, we have no decent accommodation and we stay in the breakdown vehicles, only to visit our families once in a while, so they take advantage of the situation.”
When Zambezi Times visited Cindrella in the afternoon, some young women and girls could be seen inside the parked trucks. Illegal fuel dealers were plying their trade clandestinely despite that many motorists were buying fuel.
A source who declined to be named said, “The guys siphon fuel from the trucks during the night, of course it is the drivers who sell it to ‘Magokwe’ at a give-away price, so that they will be able to sell it below the pump price. That is how business in done here. Hundreds of litres especially diesel is hidden in the forests, there are many bases there, and it is difficult to figure out those bases, even police always fail to recover when they pounce on the guys.”
