Stakeholders welcome Road Accident Fund

STAKEHOLDERS in Manicaland have welcomed the Road Accident Fund, which will deal with post- crash management in three phases of rescue, hospitalisation and rehabilitation.

Addressing Manicaland stakeholders in Mutare during the ongoing countrywide consultations on the proposed Government Road Accident Fund recently, the director of transport management in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Mr Allowance Sango, said the setting up of the road accident fund would address Pillar Five of the United Nations Moscow Declaration.

“The fund will ensure fair compensation of victims and their families in the event of road accidents and it will also focus on essential services that guarantee preparedness to road carnages like purchase of more ambulances, Vehicle Inspection Department’s inspection of vehicles and other forensic test technology, which are key to have in place efficient post crash management systems.

“Our current state of unpreparedness is terrible, where in most cases, ambulance services and paramedics are hesitant to attend to people injured at accident scenes because of uncertainty over payment and DNA tests to identify the deceased take forever due to limited resources and experts services,” said Mr Sango.

He said the proposal of the road accident fund had been well received by all stakeholders, while the Draft for Parliament is expected to be ready by December for implementation in 2018.

Speaking at the same meeting, Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe managing director, Mr Obio Chinyere, said: “We have done consultations in Bulawayo, Gweru, Masvingo, Kadoma and Harare and now we are in Mutare. In the SADC region, SA, Swaziland, Botswana, Lesotho and Namibia all have this road fund. It will not only assist post crash management systems, but also work towards preventing accidents,” said Mr Chinyere.

TSCZ administration and finance director, Mr Clifford Gobo, said they had already done their homework from the regional road accident funds, but now needed buy-in from local stakeholders on the best way to finance and administer the fund.

“What we do not want is replication of duties that unnecessarily chew more money from Government. We want an efficient structure that really serves the interests of the people,” said Mr Gobo.

Stakeholders suggested various schemes for the fund with some suggesting the creation of a fund similar to the AIDS Levy where deductions will be made from everyone’s payslip.

Others suggested a fuel levy to be the main source of revenue while others said 10 percent of revenue from all traffic offences should go towards the road fund.