One woman's wheels of fortune

• Published date: 09 October 2014

Under the scorching heat of summer, Ruth Maroto (32) from Ngangu highdensity suburb in Chimanimani, pounds the pavements scrounging for clients to board her private taxi cab.

Six years ago her employer, the Zimbabwe Community Development Programme (ZCDP), was banned and its operations were halted in Chimaninmani and Chipinge districts.

ZCDP was one of 29 nongovernmental organisations that were deregistered in in the country after they failed to submit "certain paperwork" to the local provincial administrators.

The crackdown on the NGOs sparked fears that the move was political after Zanu (PF) claimed that there were about 2,500 NGOs operating in Zimbabwe and some of them were pushing a "regime change" agenda ahead of the crucial 2008 elections.

As a result, Maroto, was unemployed and decided to try taxi driving when no other employment was available. Using her pension and other terminal benefits, including personal savings, she got her driver's license and bought a Toyota Spacio in 2010, which she converted to a private taxi cab called Rue Taxis.

Abusive

But when she first started in this industry things were not easy for her at all. "I was competing against verbally abusive and energetic young male taxi drivers to get clients, so I had to fight hard," she said in a recent interview.

"At one time I as called a whore as the male taxi drivers tried to discourage me. They felt challenged by my presence on the streets where we scrounged for clients. But I remained unbreakable as I fought my way through to live on in the industry," she recalled.

Now her fortunes have turned around. She gave credit to a local hotel that has contracted her to ferry its clients to and from the hotel to their various destinations.

"The clients at this hotel have kept me busy. The tourists too have been giving me business. Surprisingly, most of my clients are males. I also want to thank the females, though they are fewer , as they have been giving my taxi cab first preference," Maroto said.

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"Each week I make about $200 dollars after deducting money for service and fuel which means I will earn $600 monthly as net profit. I am now a proud owner of a housing stand in Ngangu high density suburbs, with my new home at window level. Besides that, I also bought a car, which is still being shipped from Japan, which I'm going to convert into a taxi and expand my business," she added.

She said she would recruit another female driver. "I have realised that over the years the country's economy has...