THE Vehicle Inspection Department (VID) will from tomorrow start conducting road tests and issuing driver’s licences after close to six months of closure.
The closure of VID in March after the Government introduced
a national lockdown due to Covid-19, had left hundreds of learners and
prospective learner drivers in a quandary. The Government, however, extended
the validity of provisional driving licences and defensive driving certificates
by six months giving room for holders to remain eligible for testing. This was
done through SI 144 of 2020. Ideally, provisional licences have a one-year
lifespan from the date of issue.
SI 144 of 2020 also known as Public Health (Covid-19
Prevention, Containment and Treatment) (National Lockdown) (Amendment) Order,
2020 (No. 11) gave provisional licence holders six more months in addition to
the one-year period the document is valid to compensate for time lost during
the lockdown.
The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development
has since issued a circular to VID depots instructing them to start conducting
tests and issue drivers licences from tomorrow. Permanent Secretary in the
Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development Engineer Amos Marawa told
Sunday News that VID had finalised developing the Covid-19 operating guidelines
and standard operating procedures which are in line with the World Health
Organisation (WHO) guidelines and were approved by the National Task Force on
Covid-19 and Cabinet. Eng Marawa said despite the go ahead, VID will continue
operating under the prescribed modus operandi during the Covid-19 induced
lockdown period.
“VID has developed Covid-19 operating guidelines and
standard operating procedures which are in line with WHO guidelines and were
approved by the National Task Force on Covid-19 and Cabinet. These will guide
the operations of VID during the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Insurance Council of Zimbabwe (ICZ) has
announced that the Central Vehicle Registry’s (CVR) has no capacity to issue
adequate vehicle registration licences. In a presentation during a virtual
training of journalists, ICZ representative Mr Tendai Karonga said there were
80 000 unregistered vehicles in the country yet the CVR has the capacity to
issue 32 000 registration plates up to the end of the year. This comes at a
time when crimes of robbery perpetrated by motorists using unregistered vehicles
are on the increase.
“Performance of motor insurance was further affected by the
Central Vehicle Registry’s (CVR) inability to register vehicles due to lack of
financial resources to produce registration plates. This resulted in about 80
000 unregistered and uninsured vehicles on the roads leading to a loss of the
mandatory Third-Party Motor premiums of approximately Z$60 million. Statistics
are based on the CVR Registrar’s Report to the Parliamentary Transport
Committee on 28 September 2020. The situation might persist as CVR has
financial resources to provide plates for 32 000 vehicles leaving more than 48
000 unregistered,” said Mr Karonga. Sunday News
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