Zinara raids homes for vehicles

By Vusumuzi Dube

The Zimbabwe National Road Authority (Zinara) has launched a blitz targeting unregistered vehicles in the high-density suburbs whose owners are avoiding driving into the city centre and main highways because they are not paying for vehicle licences.

Zinara said they had realised that a number of motorists were now using undesignated roads, avoiding coming into the city centre all aimed at avoiding paying their licences and insurance, with the highest number noted to be in the high-density suburbs.

Confirming the developments, Zinara spokesperson Mr Augustine Moyo said there was a high number of motorists in the high-density suburbs who were breaking the law as their vehicles did not have any licence discs or insurance.

“According to the Vehicle Registration and Vehicle Licensing Act no vehicle is allowed on any of the country’s roads without licence discs or insurance, it is very much illegal. As you know we are a road fund and we use what we get through vehicle registration to disburse to road authorities like the Bulawayo City Council to fix their roads.

“What we have realised is that there is a high number of non-compliant motorists especially in the high-density suburbs, who avoid main roads, using undesignated roads just to avoid paying what they are meant to. For example, in Bulawayo, there are some motorists who drive between Pumula and Luveve to and from without the necessary papers, these are the people we are looking for,” said Mr Moyo.

He said those motorists must realise that all roads needed some form of rehabilitation hence the need for motorists to pay what was due and avoid breaking the law hence the move by the road authority to now target the high-density areas.

“To be frank the highest numbers of defaulters are in the high density suburbs therefore motorists there must not feel like they are being unnecessarily targeted. As Zinara we don’t announce such blitz as we are just fulfilling a mandate.

“People must not think that money raised from toll gates is what we use to rehabilitate even roads within the urban centres, no, that is not the case, actually the money which is distributed to urban centres is the one collected from vehicle registration therefore motorists must be responsible and pay what they are required by law and this will be used to rehabilitate the very roads they use,” said Mr Moyo.

He said their licensing officials were only coming in to complement the police, as the two bodies were working together in the latest blitz.

“It’s a simple matter, the police stop you, ticket you for driving without the necessary papers then we take over selling you the necessary license disc at the same time capturing them into the system,” said Mr Moyo.

The latest blitz by Zinara comes a couple of weeks after the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) announced that they will launching their own blitz targeted at establishing whether all vehicles imported between January 2014 and June this year were cleared in accordance with the law.

According to the Zinara, the country’s vehicle population now stands at 1,2 million, from 800 000 in September 2014.

There are a number of vehicles that are operating only in remote areas avoiding towns and trunk roads as they are not registered or are not up to date with vehicle licences. Sunday News