adminFirst term licence discs expire on 31 May.
According to traffic laws, a vehicle found without the licence disc after the deadline would be impounded by the police.
Investigations by Chronicle revealed that the discs have not been readily available all along until Monday and a visit to Zimpost outlets yesterday showed droves of motorists in a last minute rush to beat the deadline.
“We are told there is a fine for late payment, but the officials are reluctant to make the figure public and we don’t know why. The last time I checked it was $5, but now it remains a mystery,” said a motorist, Mr Themba Sibanda, who said he had been in the queue at the main post office since Tuesday.
He said motorists were not ready to pay the fines for late payment as they were not responsible for the delays.
“It is not our fault that we had to get these discs at the last minute and we are not ready to pay the fines. If there are some people to be penalised for the delays, it should be the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) not us,” said Mr Sibanda.
He said he has been queuing at the offices for more than two days and by yesterday, he was yet to be served.
“There is only one teller servicing all the people who are here, it will be impossible for him to serve all these people,” said Mr Sibanda.
The vehicle discs cost $30 depending on the size of the vehicle while the vehicle insurance is valued at $30 as well.
Another motorist, Mrs Samukeliso Maseko, said the queues were moving slowly.
“We are spending more time queuing while we are supposed to be at work, it is threatening our income,” said Mrs Maseko.
There was similar congestion at Famona Zimpost offices with a long queue going round the building.
“We have been here for some days and we have not got the discs because the officials here are too slow,” said another motorist Mr Lamack Jonasi.
He said the officials told them to submit their vehicle registration books after which they would process the licences.
“Surprisingly, they did not record our names so we wonder how are they going to process the discs and issue them to appropriate owners,” said Mr Jonasi.
According to another motorist, Mr Michael Mhlanga, motorists from Plumtree are forced to travel to Bulawayo Zimpost offices as their offices were not operational.
“Zinara officials only set up the office in Plumtree and never came back to open it for use,” said Mr Mhlanga.
He said there was a need for the Zinara officials to open the Plumtree offices, as travelling to Bulawayo was inconveniencing them. Contacted for comment Zinara spokesperson Mr Augustine Moyo asked this reporter to call back after fives minutes after which his mobile rang unanswered for the rest of the day.
Police national spokesperson Superintendent Andrew Phiri said they were yet to decide what action to take against unlicensed motorists once the deadline lapses.
“The road authority is yet to liaise with us with regards to what action to take. At the moment we don’t know whether they would extend the deadline or will want the unlicensed vehicles to be impounded,” said Supt Phiri.
Online Reporter