What letters will replace our RSR?

The Herald, 21 March, 1980

ZIMBABWE must obviously get its own international registration letters to replace RSR. But, therein lies the problem.

Countries whose names begin with Z tend to abound in Africa. There is Zaire, Zambia, Zanzibar and Zimbabwe in alphabetical order.

Zambia has adopted Z, but I have not been able to find out what Zaire uses; when it was the Congo, it was CGO; Zanzibar is EAZ, with the EA standing for East Africa and applying to Kenya (EAK), Tanzania (EAT) and Uganda (EAU).

To make matters worse, South Africa is ZA, not SA. I believe the ZA stands for Zuid Afrika.

This country’s original international plate was SR, which made sense. When Federation came along in 1953, the constituent territories had new plates — RSR for this country, RNR for Northern Rhodesia and RNY for Nyasaland.

Those plates made a certain amount of sense. When the Federation folded, Zambia took Z and Malawi is MW.

Th is country could not have R because it stands for Romania, and it was decided after UDI to retain RSR, because it had been recognised internationally.

The letter R, incidentally is a popular one for international plates, and applies to many countries whose names do not begin with R — RA for Argentina, RC for Formosa, RCH for Chile, RH for Haiti, RI for Indonesia, RL for Malagasy Republic are among them.

The West African countries have taken WA into their plates like those on the opposite coast which use EA, so WAG is Gambia, WAL is Sierra Leone and WAN Nigeria.

None of which helps us very much. I understand that whatever is agreed upon has to be accepted by the United Nations convention, so it is all taken very seriously.

In that case, they would not go along with my suggestion that, because of the numerous number of dozy drivers we have, the initials should be ZIZ or ZZZ.

LESSONS FOR TODAY

◆ With Zimbabwe’s Independence becoming more apparent to Rhodesians, this motoring columnist shows that the change was greeted with trepidation, doubt and a sense of discomfort among the white community who had ruled the country for almost a century. It was as if the country was going to be governed by people who would not be able to implement national and international standards.

◆ This instalment is one of many such where the notion that “Rhodesians never die” was bolstered, as they feared for the systems they had set up.

◆ The RSR code is now obsolete, and was replaced by ZW.

◆ It is unfortunate that there are now hundreds of cars on our roads, moving around without registration plates, something that goes against the Geneva Convention on Road Traffic of 1949 and the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic of 1968.

◆ One Internet site explains the relevance of this international best practice thus: “The country in which a motor vehicle’s vehicle registration plate was issued may be indicated by an international licence plate country code, formerly known as an International Registration Letter or International Circulation Mark. It is referred to as the Distinguishing sign of the State of registration in the Geneva Convention on Road Traffic of 1949 and the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic of 1968.”

◆ East and West Africa have maintained codes that show that their regional cooperation and integration started a long time ago.

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