GOVERNMENT is taking
advantage of fuel queues to pounce on vehicle owners who have failed to
regularise their licenses, Transport minister Joel Biggie Matiza has said.
Matiza told NewsDay yesterday that government would be
deploying officers from the Vehicle Inspectorate Department (VID) to flush out
unregistered vehicles.
“People were given a deadline and those that complied have
no reason to be scared. We are after those that have failed to regularise their
licenses as required by the law. Beginning today (yesterday), we will have
officers inspecting all fuel queues to check vehicle registration and related
issues,” he said.
Government, according to officials, is already in the
process of deregistering over 130 000 vehicles whose owners have defaulted in
paying licence fees over the last two years to July this year.
Fuel shortages have triggered snaking queues across the
country as motorists spend hours on end waiting for deliveries of the precious
liquid. Government has, however, blamed hoarding for the shortages.
Matiza said some of the cars targeted for deregistration
were being used for hoarding fuel.
“The latest move will also help us deal with those using
unregistered vehicles as conduits to hoard fuel for resale on the black
market,” he said.
Matiza said his ministry was working on robust
implementation of the Zimbabwe Integrated Transport Management System (Zimtis).
“Technology is the way to go, and for us, it’s work in
progress. The idea of having to trail every car, which at times results in
anarchy, will end soon. We are working on Zimtis, and all our key departments,
including from sister ministries, are working on this. Zimtis brings together key
departments like the Zimbabwe National Road Administration, Road Motor
Transport, the police, VID and others in an integrated system that will help us
deal with all this chaos,” Matiza said.
The chaos on the country’s roads has been blamed for many
fatalities caused by vehicles that are not roadworth as well as by unregistered
cars and unlicensed drivers. There has also been a marked increase in the chaos
following the withdrawal of traffic police in the wake of Operation Restore
Legacy in November last year. Newsday
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