VID fights corruption
VEHICLE Inspection Department (VID) director Mr Joseph Pedzapasi has said he has fired several officials involved in corrupt activities after putting up adequate measures to curb graft in the department.
This comes after Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Dr Joram Gumbo gave VID officials a 100-day ultimatum to stop corrupt activities or risk prosecution.
In an interview, Mr Pedzapasi said they had put up strategies to enhance transparency within the department.
“VID as an institution suffers from perception and the perception is very negative,” said Mr Pedzapasi.
“We fired quite a good number of our officials who were corrupt and we are not just sitting. We have put across strategies so as to enhance transparency in the testing of learners.”
Mr Pedzapasi said all VID depots conduct 80 percent of their tests in their yard and in public view, with only 20 percent being reserved for town driving.
In a Press statement yesterday, the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe said it was an offence to pay and accept a bribe in return for a driver’s licence.
The council said some of the road traffic accidents were due to unlicensed and poorly trained drivers.
“The Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe appeals to members of the public to shun corruption in driver testing and licensing by reporting any errant driving school instructors who solicit for bribes to facilitate the issuance of a driver’s licence,” reads the statement.
TSCZ urged the public to report such cases at any of their offices or use their WhatsApp number 0784335544 or contact them on (04) 751208, 751203, 752687 and 758021.
Speaking at the Press conference in Harare on Wednesday, Minister Gumbo said if VID officials did not heed Government’s exhortation, senior managers would have to face the chop, while the remaining officials risked being rotated on a weekly basis around the country’s various depots.
“The Zimbabwe driver’s licence is an internationally-recognised document,” he said.
“We are a signatory to the 1968 United Nations Convention and that is why one can obtain an International Driving Permit upon production of our driver’s licence. My ministry does not tolerate any form of corruption in the issuance of such a valuable document as this damages its reputation. Incompetent drivers have no business on our roads as they are an ingredient to road accidents.”
Dr Gumbo warned driving school owners and their staff — most of whom are believed to be conduits of corrupt activities together with VID driving examiners — that allegations of corruption would be fully investigated and the long arm of the law will catch up with them.