MORE than 2 000 vehicles have been impounded and motorists
fined for lockdown defiance in Bulawayo as some people continue to disregard
the call to stay at home.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube,
while addressing journalists at a Press briefing yesterday, said the vehicles
were impounded after motorists were found driving aimlessly.
The impounded vehicles are being kept at Ross Camp Police
Station. Inspector Ncube said the motorists would only get their vehicles after
clearing their cases, including traffic offences and pending cases with
municipal authorities for parking tickets.
He said 120 vehicles were impounded in 24 hours, between
Wednesday and yesterday morning.
“As we are on lockdown level two, we have realised that
there is a lot of defiance and motorists think the Covid-19 lockdown is for
pedestrians only, not realising that whether you fly, you drive, you walk or
sail, this virus can still affect you and you can be a carrier and infect
others. It is worrying that people are disregarding the rules that have been
set for their own safety. We therefore call upon motorists to abide by lockdown
rules as well.”
“Some of the impounded vehicles already have pending cases
and some defects so even after paying their fines, they will still have to
clear their pending cases, like driving without a licence or for instance city
parking tickets. This lockdown period does not override other traffic
regulations,” he said.
He said there was a problem of public service vehicles that
were not under the Zupco scheme who were now illegally servicing routes and not
even maintaining social distancing in the vehicles.
Inspector Ncube said another area of concern was the
cross-border vehicles, especially South African-registered Toyota Quantums used
by omalayitsha who are stuck in the country due to the closure of borders and
have resorted to plying local routes, yet their permits do not allow for local
public transportation. Chronicle
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