‘Cross border buses after Xmas’
VID road tests resume
ZIMBABWE is set to re-open more land borders after a team of senior Government officials was dispatched to assess the state of affairs at the port of entries/exit ahead of the gradual opening.
Two weeks ago, the country re-opened its side of the Beitbridge Border Post but only to allow Zimbabwean citizens in South Africa to return home. The border is also processing outbound Zimbabweans with valid South African permanent residence and other permits such as work and student permits who are also now allowed to cross into South Africa and back home.
Zimbabweans in South Africa popularly known as injiva are also now allowed back home without any restrictions or special clearance in a move that would see some locals who had been stuck in the neghbouring country flocking back home.
However, it has emerged that the Government is now moving to re-open other land borders to passenger traffic. The latest developments are being implemented as per last week’s Cabinet directive that teams be sent to all border posts to assess the state of readiness and recommend interventions after taking input from all stakeholders on the ground.
Sunday News understands that the teams are visiting Beitbridge, Forbes, Chirundu, Kariba, Victoria Falls, Kazungula, and Nyamapanda border posts. The teams comprise senior civil servants from ministries of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Environment, Climate Change, Tourism and Hospitality, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development, Defence and War Veterans, and Local Government and Public Works.
Beitbridge’s team leader, Mr Stewart Nyakotyo who is the Director Legal and Consul Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade said their mission involves taking submissions from border actors and practical assessment of current operations.
“We have started engaging various stakeholders at Beitbridge to assess the resources, operation proposals, state of manpower, proposed time frames for re-opening, current operational challenges, and what they need to get things moving. After which we are going to have a practical feel on the ground of what they have and the shortcomings. We will then make recommendations to the National Covid-19 Task Force which will then merge our findings and recommendations with those from other teams. This will then be taken to Cabinet to guide decision making,” said Mr Nyakotyo.
Speaking during the consultation, border stakeholders proposed that the Government should consider a phased border opening before allowing all and sundry through the borders. They said those travelling in private vehicles should start in the first phase this year with public transport being the last before the end of the first quarter of 2021. The immigration officer-in-charge of Beitbridge Mr Nqobile Ncube said:
“It is only prudent to go with the phased route considering the current state of affairs here where we are battling with the commercial trucks with South Africa having re-opened their borders. You will note that in 2019, we cleared 5, 3 million people at this border with 14 000 passing through daily and we could have more people if we open at full throttle considering that people have not been moving for over six months.”
He said a successful re-opening of the land borders will depend on the Government’s resource base to attend to all the safety measures as proposed by the border stakeholders. The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) shift manager, Mr Jericho Rundogo said the current civil works to upgrade the border post had left them with limited operation space and hence the need to stagger the opening.
“Currently we are using private cars and bus lanes to clear commercial cargo. Imagine what will happen if we open to full strength. So our proposal is let’s have small/private cars which are easy to manage to come through and we look at public transport after the festive season to avoid a chaotic scenario,” he said.
Beitbridge District Medical Officer Dr Lenos Samhere said they were still in discussions with four private laboratories who want to set up shop in the border town to boost the testing of travellers leaving and entering the country through Beitbridge.
He said they had since requested for more Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing and automated screening machines to boost service delivery and minimise delays at the port of entry.
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.