Vaya Declared An Essential Service During Lockdown

It’s been a week since the beginning of a national lockdown declared by President Emmerson Mnangagwa. H e declared the lockdown for a duration of 21 days and this can be revised.

Under the lockdown, people are mandated to stay home except when going to procure food and other supplies as well as accessing medical services among a few permitted errands folks can do.

Some workers for example security officers enforcing the lockdown, medical workers and utility providers as well as those who work in industries that produce medical equipment etc are allowed to go to work during this time. These are deemed as essential services providers.

The problem though is that public commuter buses have been grounded except the government owned ZUPCO. This thus limits how much the so called essential workers can move around and limits options available for the essential supplies runs folks may want to do.

To that end, Vaya, the Cassava owned on demand transportation service has been declared to be an essential service and can operate freely during the lockdown.

About this, Cassava Smertech says:

The essential services status allows the company to operate freely without restriction and without breaching government laws expressly stated under Statutory Instrument 82 of 2020 and Statutory Instrument 83 of 2020. 

And so, with VAYA mobility there is no fear of being mistook for someone breaching the lockdown laws as the company and its partners have been granted express authorisation to work as critical service providers. This has been communicated to key authorities keeping citizens safe and manning roadblocks during this period.

VAYA drivers and partners have gone through intensive training on sanitisation of their vehicles on the inside, on door handles and for passengers on accessing the vehicles. They move around with the correct PPEs (personal protective equipment) such as face masks, as well as sanitisers, so as to protect themselves and their passengers during rides.