By Daniel Nemukuyu
The High Court on Thursday ruled that police are empowered to fine motorists not displaying new licence discs on their vehicles, despite the extension of the licensing deadline to June 30.
Justice Andrew Mutema made the ruling while dismissing an application by Harare lawyer and motorist Ms Roselyn Hanzi who sought to stop police from arresting motorists not displaying the new discs. He said two notices by the Zimbabwe National Road Administration early this month on the extension of the deadline did not impact on police operations.
Justice Mutema absolved Zinara of any wrongdoing, saying Ms Hanzi and her lawyers rushed to file the court application without verifying the facts. The judgment was handed down after convincing arguments by Zinara lawyers Mr Farai Mutamangira and Mr Itai Ndudzo of Mutamangira and Associates.
He found that Ms Hanzi and her lawyers failed to properly interpret Section 36 and Section 22 of the Vehicle Registration and Licensing Act, which they relied on as well as the meaning of the notices by Zinara. Justice Mutema said police were correct in arresting and fining Ms Hanzi for not having a current vehicle licence disc.
He said Zinara’s deadline extension until June 30 exonerated motorists from paying late payment fees and not police fines. Section 36 of the Vehicle Registration and Licensing Act, according to the court, only provides for a 30-day grace period in respect of Zinara administrative fees charged for late payment.
The section does not interfere with the operations of the police, said Justice Mutema.
“It is as clear as day follows night that Section 36 is not subject to any interpretation beyond the issue of the grace period of one month within which no penalty for the late payment of licence fees is charged and the period when such penalty will start accruing,” he said.
“The penalty is payable to the Road Fund and is enforced and collected by Zinara.
“On the other hand, it is also clear that Section 22(1) and (3) (of the same Act) creates a mandatory requirement for every owner of a registered vehicle to have at all times a valid licence and provides for the appropriate fine.
“This statutory offence is clearly subject to enforcement by the law enforcement agents (police and the courts) in terms of the law. There is no window or grace period of whatever nature for non-compliance with this offence.”
Justice Mutema said Ms Hanzi wrongly interpreted the two notices by Zinara.
“The applicant and her legal practitioners simply failed to adopt a dispassionate approach to the whole saga, rushing to file the application a few hours following her arrest and fining,” he said. “They failed to distil the quintessence of the matter, thereby getting lost in the labyrinth in which the truth was lurking.”
The court found that Ms Hanzi’s rights had not been infringed upon under the circumstances and that instead she was the one who infringed the law. Ms Hanzi, Justice Mutema ruled, had the option of complying with the law or parking her vehicle until she complied.
He described the application by Ms Hanzi as a “reckless” one in that she rushed to court without seeking clarification from Zinara or researching the law. Mr Mutamangira said the judgment means the deadline to acquire the new licence discs remains June 30, but police can continue arresting those without valid licence discs.
“We welcome the judgment and it’s well reasoned,” he said. “The judge agreed with all the submissions we made on behalf of Zinara and he correctly found that there was a clear misreading of the law by the applicant.”
Zinara introduced a computerised licensing system, but it failed to clear everyone by the cut-off date, resulting in the first notice being issued in terms of Section 36 of the Act. The road authority then gave motorists a grace period of up to June 30 to pay for the licences without the administrative penalty for late payment.
When the queues became shorter and on June 6, Zinara — through its head of corporate communications Mr Augustine Moyo — issued another notice clarifying that the extension was only administrative and did not protect motorists from arrest or prosecution.