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150,000 vehicles face registry cancellations

by Staff reporter
10 Nov 2018 at 20:09hrs | Views
GOVERNMENT will cancel the registration of close to 150 000 vehicles that have not renewed their licences and have no official exemptions for more than two years as at August 2018.

In a statement, the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Biggie Matiza, noted with concern that numerous vehicles were plying public roads or simply parked in backyards, but have not been licensed for more than two years.

"My ministry is reliably informed that at the beginning of the month, there were more than 150 000 vehicles sitting in the vehicle licensing database whose licences had expired for more than two years without exemptions. This is not only unnecessary, but unacceptable.

"The responsible motorists should simply have renewed their licences or obtained exemptions on time. The affected motoring public, therefore, should urgently regularise their vehicle licences," he said.

Minister Matiza warned that the Zimbabwe National Road Administration vehicle licensing and tolling systems have been integrated and that unlicensed vehicles shall be stopped from proceeding through the toll gates until such time they would have complied with the registration and licensing rules and regulations of this country.

The Minister said such behaviour was contrary to the country's statutes and has to be corrected without further delay. In terms of the Vehicle Registration and Licensing Act (Chapter 13:14), it is illegal to use a vehicle on a public road unless it meets the registration and licensing requirements enshrined therein.

Section 22 of the Act states that: "The owner of every registered vehicle shall keep such vehicle licensed in terms of this Act'. Section 12 of the said Act, empowers the registrar of vehicles to cancel the registration of a vehicle if ‘according to his records, a registered vehicle has not been licensed or exempted for a period exceeding two years".

"It is an offence, therefore, to keep an unlicensed registered vehicle without an official exemption for more than two years," said Minister Matiza.

He said once the intention to cancel registration of unlicensed vehicles was gazetted yesterday, the affected owners should approach Zinara and clear their licence arrears within 30 days.

Minister Matiza said affected vehicles would be listed in a schedule available on the Zinara website and a physical hardcopy shall be availed for inspection at the post offices and the Central Vehicle Registry offices.

"Therefore, motorists whose vehicles have not been licensed for a considerable period of time, should check for such vehicles either on the Zinara website or the physical hardcopies at post offices and or the Central Vehicle Registry offices," he said.

Minister Matiza said the cancellation of the registration of unlicensed vehicles is intended to bring about compliance with the legal framework and resultantly update both the national vehicle registration and licensing databases.

Source - chronicle