admin
An estimated 580 000 motorists failed to beat the 31 May deadline and were given a reprieve when Zinara announced that the last date for payment had been moved to 30 June.
However, in a complete about turn yesterday, Zinara spokesperson Mr Augustine Moyo said the extension had been cancelled, with immediate effect.
“With effect from midnight today, police will be ticketing motorists who do not have valid licence discs. We have scrapped the extension,” said Mr Moyo.
He said Zinara had realised that motorists were not taking advantage of the extension because Zimpost licensing outlets were now deserted.
“I have toured Matabeleland North and South provinces in the last 48 hours and the outlets are empty. People will want to come and start registering on 29 June and fail to beat the deadline again. It seems Zimbabweans work better under pressure, so they have taken the extension as a honeymoon,” said Mr Moyo.
He said by the expiry of the 31 May deadline, about 220 000 vehicles out of an estimated 800 000 had been registered.
“The figure has increased marginally since then. The winding queues have disappeared from Zimpost outlets,” said Mr Moyo.
He said the 30 June deadline would now remain a Zinara administrative issue that did not involve the police.
“We will use the date as a starting point to charge people late payment penalties. As for the police, they will simply fine those without discs,” said Mr Moyo.
The penalty is $45 and comprises $20 fine, $20 arrears fee and $5 administration fee. The police fine motorists without valid licence discs $20 while repeat offenders have their vehicles impounded.
The Zinara spokesperson said consultations with the police had also revealed a matter of great concern.
“It has been realised that a majority of motorists, who get involved in accidents do not have insurance. Getting licence discs forced people to insure their vehicles as one cannot buy a disc without valid insurance. Since the extension, people have stopped insuring their vehicles,” said Mr Moyo.
Zinara introduced new licence discs with high security features as a measure to plug the production of fake discs.
Counterfeiting was reportedly costing Zinara more than $20 million in potential revenue annually to motorists who do not renew their vehicle licences although they are using the country’s roads.
The new system also aims to establish and capture the actual number of cars on Zimbabwe’s roads.
Zinara also revealed that it was collecting about $5 million every year from about 300 000 vehicles, instead of about $40 million from about 800 000 vehicles registered with the Central Vehicle Registry.
Road licence fees are used together with tollgate fees, overload fees and transit fees to maintain the country’s roads and construct new ones.
Licence discs, per vehicle per term, cost $15 for motorcycles and $20 for small cars.
Owners of vehicles of between three and seven tonnes fork out $45 while for vehicles above seven tonnes but below nine tonnes, the discs cost $60 and those more than nine tonnes cost $75.
Small trailer owners pay $15 and big trailers are charged $40.
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu