By Tendai Chara
An unusually long, winding queue snakes its way past the pre-cast wall of the Vehicle Inspectorate Department (VID)’s Eastlea depot in Harare before coming to an abrupt end some few metres from the banks of a heavily polluted stream nearby.
Ignoring the heavy stench emanating from the pile of rubbish that is scattered across the streambank, scores of people could be seen waiting anxiously for their turn to be ushered into the VID premises.
Since the resumption of VID operations last month, there has been an incredibly high number of people who are thronging the premises seeking both learner’s and driver’s licences.
The government recently gave the nod for the resumption of road tests and the issuance of driver’s licences.
Operations at VID have been suspended since March due to the Covid-19-induced lockdown.
Although most VID depots are traditionally characterised by heavy human traffic, the number of people that are besieging the depots seeking licences have been markedly high.
Investigations carried out by this publication revealed that a hoax social media message which purported that learner’s and driver’s licence fees were going to be hiked is behind the current artificial demand for services.
The message suggested that licence fees were going to be pegged in United States dollars.
When this reporter visited the Eastlea depot on Friday, scores of people who made the long queue were pushing and shoving as they impatiently awaited their turn to be served.
Some of those in attendance had been at the premises as early as 5am.
The majority of the people that were interviewed confirmed being driven by the hoax message.
“I have been here since 5am and as you can see, I am still very far from the entrance. I was told that the fees for acquiring a learner’s licence will soon be increased,” a young man who introduced himself as Mike said.
“I was here some two days ago and I failed the provisional licence test. I came back to rewrite since I was told that the licence fees will soon be pegged in United States dollars. Where will I get the foreign currency?” Belinda, one of the many youthful people who were part of the melee, queried.
Application fees for learner’s licences are currently pegged at $100.
Sources close to the goings-on at VID said the majority of those that are sitting for the provisional driver’s licence are failing to pass the examinations.
The sources attributed the high failure rate to a lack of preparedness.
“People are panicking. They are coming here ill-prepared. Those that are failing are re-doing the test and this explains why the queues are not getting any shorter,” one of the sources said.
Dr Johannes Pedzapasi, the director of Transport Management in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, confirmed the unusually high demand for the licences.
“This demand is artificial. Fake social media reports indicated that the licence fees are going to be increased, resulting in many people trying to write the tests before the said increase,” he said.
Dr Pedzapasi added that measures are being taken to manage the situation.
“We introduced a raft of measures to contain the situation. By 7am, our depots will be opened. We are also open during weekends,” he said.
He dismissed social media speculation that ignited the artificial demand.
Any fee changes, he added, are first approved by relevant authorities before an official communication is made.
“As far as I know, the learner licence application fees remain at $100,” Dr Pedzapasi said.
Long queues are also the order of the day at the Central Vehicle Registry (CVR) amid calls for Government to improve the registry’s capacity to issue adequate vehicle registration licences.
Transport and Infrastructural Development Permanent Secretary, Engineer Amos Marahwa, recently told Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Transport that the Central Vehicle Registry received funding to procure 168 000 pairs of plates.
Statistics from the CVR Registrar’s Report to the Parliamentary Transport Committee on September 28, 2020 had indicated that there were 80 000 unregistered vehicles in the country, yet the CVR has only the capacity to issue 32 000 registration plates by year-end. The Sunday Mail
More VID centers are needed regardless 🤷🏿