Physical and verbal attacks, breaking windows and puncturing tires are among the acts of violence that many motorists experience when they refuse to pay amounts at the hands of groups of young people who privatize public spaces for parking. The police say they have done their job in arresting offenders, while GPL recognizes the problem and plans to build more parks
The trauma of parking on the street is the feeling that Mr. Malebo Joaquim has carried for more than three years, after having his vehicle broken down in the heat of a disagreement with a group of young people in Largo do Ambiente, in Luanda. The confusion began when the 51-year-old man was looking for a parking space. While driving around the city, on the morning of a working day, Malebo was confronted by the group that offered to store the vehicle in a public space, on the side of the road.
Far from thinking that he would be charged for parking, as it was a public space, Mr Malebo was trying to leave the place, already after completing his shift, when he was questioned by the group who demanded the payment of one thousand kwanzas for having stored the vehicle in a space that is public for a period of 4 hours. “While I was telling one of them that I didn’t have any money, another member of the group came from behind and punctured my tires. This created such confusion that, to this day, when I go to the city I am still aware that I have to pay for something that is public. It’s absurd”, he lamented.
Stolen sign
Ndoa António, a public servant, saw his car’s license plate stolen in Largo da Maianga because he refused to pay for the place where he parked the vehicle, in April last year. “As soon as I had finished parking, young people surrounded me demanding that I had to leave 500 kwanzas at that moment and that I would have to give the rest as soon as I returned. I thought it was absurd and didn’t accept it. But I still left the car. When I returned, I no longer found the sign or the group that had approached me.
The owners of the sign
Confusion that ends in loss and physical or verbal aggression has been the daily life of many motorists who, in the city center of Luanda, fight for a place during normal working hours. Due to the scarcity of parking lots, motorists are faced with groups of young people who offer to give up public spaces that they guard in order to, in exchange, earn between 200 and 500 kwanzas from motorists who go to work or to treat other types of care. of files. The “business” attracts, every day, more young people and adults who, in the search for easy profit, save public parking spaces for themselves and create confusion when motorists refuse to pay them any amount. Manuel Poeira, 28 years old, has been in the business for eight years.
What he calls the sign (workplace) is the Coqueiros area where every day he stores vehicles in public spaces in exchange for values that vary greatly depending on the model and brand of the vehicle. As a general rule, he says, the price to be paid by motorists varies between 200 and a thousand kwanzas. “Although there are papoites that actually drop up to 2 thousand. But these are the big fathers, who don’t let anyone down and who only drive big machines,” he stressed. Manuel swears that he has never left a customer’s vehicle, but admits that there has been confusion on the “plate” that ended in a police case. “The confusion only starts when customers themselves don’t pay or try to escape. Then Kota already knows. We don’t all have the same temperament. But if you park and pay, normally there will be no confusion because we control the sign ourselves,” he said.
“We don’t leave our house to come and play”
For his part, João Tchicwende, who lives in Cacuaco, said that every day he goes to Largo do Ambiente to earn money from the parking business. Values between 7 and 12 thousand kwanzas are what he says he takes home, daily, with the charge for parking spaces. He says that he found his job in this activity, which he says he won’t give up, given the daily profit he makes to support his family. “We don’t leave our house to come and play. We clean the plate every day. That’s why we demand payment. The Police themselves know that we only create confusion when the customer doesn’t want to pay the agreed amount,” he said.
“The country has no jobs”
Ezequiel Gaúcho, Mário Domingos and Paulo Jorge are other young people who survive from the activity. The three define the activity as a source of revenue and state that the confusion only exists due to a lack of understanding on the part of motorists. Paulo Jorge is 42 years old and lives in the municipality of Cazenga. He admits to having already been included in police cases due to confusion on his license plate. He also supports the idea that confusion only happens because motorists try to complicate an already pre-defined agreement. “The country has no jobs, brother. And if someone does this work, it’s so they don’t steal. So drivers can’t make fools of us. No one will control your car at the cost of anything”, he noted
Scarcity of parks at the center of the chaos
Motorists interviewed by the newspaper OPAIS say that the scarcity of public parks is what forces men behind the wheel to turn to these young people. They point out that parking in Luanda, especially during office hours, is not an easy task, so any space that arises is fought over fiercely and under the command of this group of young people who, as a general rule, are associated with drug and alcohol consumption. . The Largo do Ambiente underground car park, which could be one of the decongestion points when it comes to finding parking spaces, has been closed for years. In the city of Luanda, especially in the lower part, there are around 20 public parking lots, most of which are managed by private agents. However, due to constant complaints from motorists who complained about the prices, these private agents received guidance from the Provinvial Government of Luanda to start charging 50 kwanzas per hour, as opposed to the previous 200.
Despite this regulation, many parks continue to charge amounts above 500 kwanzas for each hour of parking, a situation that has forced many motorists, unable to pay, to use public spaces controlled by these young people. The deputy administrator for the Technical Area of the municipality of Luanda, Cláudio Revelas, recognizes the problem and said that it stems from the lack of more parking spaces. He mentioned that the 20 parks spread throughout downtown Luanda are not enough to meet the demand, judging by the number of citizens who, daily, visit the city center to deal with the most different matters. As he mentioned, GPL is projecting the possibility of creating new parks, to respond to citizens’ needs. “We are looking at this possibility to help with traffic and mobility in the urban area”, he highlighted.
Framework
Furthermore, Cláudio Revelas added that, as part of the process of reorganizing public parks, young people who charge citizens money for parking spaces will be included in this program so that they can have decent employment within the rules. “We thought, in the near future, that we would include these young people in the park management and billing process. This will ensure that they have decent employment,” he assured.
For his part, the spokesperson for the National Police in Luanda, Nestor Goubel, stated that the body has received, daily, complaints from many citizens who say they have been harmed by this group of young people who charge irregular amounts of money to motorists. Without providing concrete numbers, the police officer said that, on a regular basis, arrests are made of young people who engage in violence using violent means. Nestor Goubel also advised drivers to leave their cars in safe parking lots, even if they had to pay a little more in order to protect their physical integrity and their material assets. “We have been doing our job as authorities, because these kids are not authorized to charge public spaces. But motorists must also have the culture of leaving their vehicles in safe places,” he appealed.