By Staff Reporter
Dozens of learners and teachers are currently stranded in rural Kariba right before schools reopen for the third term on September 8, 2026.
The transport crisis was triggered by the tragic sinking of the government-owned Mbuya Nehanda ferry last month, which took 97 lives and destroyed the primary, affordable transit link across Lake Kariba. The sinking of the Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (RIDA) ferry completely cut off the cheap water route connecting Kariba urban to rural communities like Mola and Chalala.
Families trying to get their children back to school now face a massive road detour via the Karoi–Siakobvu–Mola route.The alternative road trip costs over US$30 per person. Most rural teachers and families who crossed over for the holidays simply cannot afford it.
Opposition MP Mutsa Murombedzi has urgently called on the government to provide an immediate shuttle bus service for the returning students and educators.
Calls have intensified for the government to fix the dilapidated Karoi–Binga road so conventional transport operators can safely navigate the route.
Local leadership and parents feel abandoned, noting the bitter irony of living next to the world’s largest man-made lake by volume while being unable to transport their children to school safely.
While government officials have traveled to Dubai to procure new, compliant passenger ferries for the nation’s inland waterways, no immediate timeline has been given for when these vessels will arrive to relieve the stranded communities. In the meantime, the Civil Protection Unit has been distributing US$100 in financial aid to victims’ families and rolling out psychosocial support.
