The Sunday Mail
Thousands of unregistered motor vehicles face imminent de-registration as Government moves to update the national vehicle population and ensure only properly documented cars use the roads.
The Central Vehicle Registry’s records show that the country has 1,4 million vehicles, a figure that is cumulative from 1918
The Sunday Mail has established that Government will soon publish a gazette outlawing at least 30 000 vehicles that have not been registered for the last two years and beyond.
The move is in line with provisions of Section 12 of the Vehicle Registration and Licensing Act (Chapter 13:14), which empowers the Central Vehicle Registrar to cancel licences for vehicles with outstanding statutory fees.
The Central Vehicle Registry’s records show that the country has 1,4 million vehicles, a figure that is cumulative from 1918.
Central Vehicle Registrar Mr George Makoni said the department would de-register 30 372 vehicles, which will subsequently be taken off the Zimbabwe National Road Administration’s live database. He said some vehicles appeared only on the Zinara database and not on the Central Vehicle Registry.
“Over the years some people have not been coming to register or apply for exemption for their vehicles, however, some of the vehicles have remained on the roads,” he said.
“We did not have tangible evidence to de-register the vehicles but since Zinara developed a Live Vehicle Data System (in May 2012), we can now identify the vehicles which have been skipping licensing.
“There are vehicles that have been appearing in the Central Vehicle Registry database since 1918 but do not appear in the new Zinara database, so the Zinara database will be the starting point.
“As of March this year, we had 220 000 vehicles that had not been registered for more than two years. However as of August 17, the number had declined to 30 372 and these are the vehicles that we are going to de-register.”
The Sunday Mail has established that after the gazette, owners of the unregistered vehicles will be given 30 days to properly document their vehicles if they still want to use them.
Once a vehicle is de-registered, its re-registration requires submission of a certificate of road worthiness from the Vehicle Inspectorate Department, police clearance, a fee of US$160 for cars and US$140 for motorcycles or trailers, and settlement of outstanding licence fees arrears.
Mr Makoni said: “The law prescribes the safety of other vehicles and licence disk is proof that a vehicle will not endanger the lives of other road users.
The exercise will also give the actual number of vehicles that are on the roads and this will help Government plan for road infrastructure development in the future.”
Government last November directed owners of vehicles without updated registration for at least two years to regularise their assets.
University of Zimbabwe Rural and Urban Planning lecturer Mr Smart Dumba said there was need to remove “ghost vehicles” from the Central Vehicle Registry.
“It is noble idea considering that these vehicles were robbing the Government of potential revenue since they were not paying anything,” he said.
“Unavailability of data due unreliable figures was causing chaos at the Central Vehicles Registry and the exercise will help clean up the system. It will also help with planning of the road infrastructure.
“However, there is need for Government to improve on the surveillance system so the de-registered vehicles do not return to the roads after sometime.”
