adminYesterday we quoted Zimbabwe National Roads Administration spokesperson Mr Augustine Moyo as saying the extension had been necessitated by operational challenges that included Zesa power cuts at some of the outlets.
“We have listened to the public and we have agreed, in consultation with the Minister of Transport, Communication and Infrastructural Development, Nicholas Goche, that the deadline should be reset to 30 June. We have noted that in some of the registering outlets, namely Hillside Post Office in Bulawayo, there was load shedding most of the time and people were queuing without getting the service,” said Mr Moyo.
We saw it coming given that Zinara has introduced a new registration system which appears cumbersome as it seeks to curb corruption and leakages in the process.
Zinara introduced new vehicle licence discs with more security features as part of efforts to rein in the illegal reproduction of the discs by criminals who were cashing in while depriving the road administration authority of the much-needed revenue.
That many motorists were not going to meet the 31 May deadline was inevitable and it would have been unfair for these law abiding citizens to be punished and risk having their vehicles impounded by the police for something that they did not have control over.
The country’s vehicle population is growing at a fast rate with many Zimbabweans importing cars from all over the world on a daily basis.
Zinara’s own estimates puts the country’s vehicle population at close to a million cars and there was no way these could all be registered within a short space of time given that most Zimpost outlets were said to be registering about 2 000 cars or less a day.
With the new deadline of 30 June, the onus is now on Zinara and its agent, Zimpost, to ensure a speedy processing of the licence discs so that by the end of the month, no motorist cries foul.
This means Zinara and Zimpost might have to increase the number of outlets as well as personnel processing the discs.
According to Zimpost managing director Mr Douglas Zimbango, the company had reduced the number of outlets receiving Zinara payments from 300 to just 50 countrywide following the computerisation of the payment system.
We, however, do not see the need for a reduction in the number of outlets receiving Zinara payments even though Zimpost has computerised its system. We believe opening up more outlets would go a long way in clearing the queues and alleviate the pain and suffering that motorists have been going through over the past few weeks.
We hope the relevant Government departments, including the police, have taken heed of the deadline extension and would bear with motorists while they sort out registration.
It would be a sad day if the police were to go ahead and start impounding unlicensed vehicles when motorists have been given breathing space to put their houses in order.
We are not advocating for lawlessness on the roads, but the most logical thing would be for police to also give motorists a 30-day grace period in line with the new deadline.
Zinara and Zimpost must also make available long-term registration discs to avoid congestion in the near future. There are motorists who are prepared to register their vehicles for three terms and these should be allowed to do so with ease.
We want to appeal to motorists not to sit on their laurels now that the deadline has been extended because 30 days is not a very long time. They must continue to register their vehicles, and those with deeper pockets might as well go for more than one term so as to avoid congesting the system come the next renewal dates.
Online Reporter