The public should not expect the immediate reopening of the
Vehicle Inspectorate Department (VID) because it would be difficult to maintain
social distancing rules at the premises, government has said.
In a telephone interview with TellZim News, permanent
secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Amos
Marawa said the set-up at VID depots was similar to schools hence the sustained
ban.
“We put the VID in the same category as schools therefore just
as schools remain shut; the department will also remain closed. Prospective
drivers, for instance, need to sit down for a test as a group under
supervision, and that would make it very hard to comply with social-distancing
rules required by the current level two lockdown regulations,” said Marawa.
Asked what would become of those whose learner’s licences
expired in the course of the ongoing lockdown, Marawa said government had not
yet considered that.
“It’s something we have not considered at policy level.
Nobody has come forward to say we have lost out so we cannot solve a problem
when there are no complaints but now that you have brought it up, we will look
into it and find a way forward,” he said.
Marawa also said those who require any other VID services
like retests and defensive driving certificates will have to wait as every
government move was guided by the existing lockdown regulations.
VID is a government department under the Ministry of
Transport and Infrastructural Development, operating under the auspices of the
Public Service Commission (PSC).
The closure of its 23 depots countrywide since the
beginning of the lockdown at the end of March means people cannot get driver’s
licences and driving schools have been hit hard. Tell Zim News
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