Government finalising Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe Act amendments

Freeman Razemba Senior Reporter

Government is finalising crafting amendments to the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe Act to incorporate the five pillars of road safety which will include the establishment of a Road Accident Fund (RAF).

The Road Accident Fund is aimed at catering for compensation of victims of road traffic accidents.

The fund entails that RAF is financed by collecting money from road activities like fuel sales, motor vehicle insurances, tollgates among other sources of income generating activities to fund healthcare concerns arising from road accidents.

In other jurisdictions like South Africa, the fund is responsible for rehabilitating and compensating persons injured as a result of motor vehicles in a timely and caring manner as well as promoting the safe use of roads.

Speaking during the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) 7th annual general meeting, Transport and Infrastructural Developmental Minister Felix Mhona said under NDS1, one of their goals was to cut road traffic deaths and injuries by half by 2030 and promote sustainable mobility with safety at its core.

“On the operational front, the Government remains concerned with the wanton deaths and destruction of property on our roads. The tragedy of these deaths is made even greater by the fact that so many of them are preventable. Traffic crashes can push entire families into poverty through either the loss of a breadwinner or the costs associated with lost income and prolonged medical care.

“At the same time, road crashes are costly to the economy and retard economic growth, and are a huge cost to development. Sadly, developing countries lose between two and five percent of GDP every year because of road crashes. It is on this context that under NDS1, one of our goals as a nation is to cut road traffic deaths and injuries by half by 2030 and promote sustainable mobility with safety at its core,” said Minister Mhona.

Minister Mhona congratulated and celebrated with Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe for a sustainable good record of timeously holding its AGM.

“To the board chairman and your team, I say congratulations for not only consistently complying with good corporate governance principles by affording the shareholder and stakeholders this important opportunity to review your annual performance and service delivery, but also for becoming the first State entity in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development to hold the AGM within acceptable timelines for the period ending December 2022. Well done.

“Your challenge now is to maintain this record, or even better it! To cap it all, I note with excitement, that in respect of your audited financial statements, the Auditor- General issued a clean certificate on the records. This demonstrates and confirms to the shareholders that the institution is under good stewardship, itself an anchor pillar for efficient and effective corporate performance and organizational viability. Please keep up the good work,” he said.

Minister Mhona said the thrust of the Second Republic is to ensure that, all State enterprises are led and managed by qualified personnel that recognize the socio-politico and economic significance of these State Entities in the provision of goods and services to our people, as well as in the realization of the objectives of National Development Strategy 1 and Vison 2030.

He said State entities at their best in the 1980s, used to contribute about 40 percent of the Gross Domestic Product.

“Regrettably, that contribution went down significantly as the performance of a number of State-owned enterprises went down due to various reasons. The Second Republic is committed to restoring state entities back to their hey days and ensure that, they become the engine of economic development and growth as envisioned under Vision 2030.

“The performance contracts introduced in Government and State entities by the Second Republic are testimony of his Excellency, President Mnangagwa’s resolve and commitment to bringing public accountability in both the mainstream Government and State-owned enterprises. As the responsible ministry, we are equally committed to complimenting President Mnangagwa’s efforts through the enforcement of total compliance to various statutory requirements under the ministry’s purview,” he said.