Vehicle registration exposes Goche
Monday, 11 June 2012 12:36
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
THE scrapping of the vehicle registration extension deadline, barely a week
after the reprieve, has exposed the confusion, indecisiveness and general
inefficiency that has rocked the Ministry of Transport, Communication and
Infrastructural Development, for the past few years.
Analysts said it was little wonder Nicholas Goche, who heads the ministry,
was widely regarded as one of the ministers in the inclusive government who
have dismally failed to deliver.
A fortnight ago, his ministry, through the Zimbabwe National Roads
Administration (Zinara), extended the vehicle registration by one month,
only to reverse the decision a few days later, plunging the transport sector
into chaos.
This was despite the fact that long and snaking queues, moving literally at
a snail’s pace, were still evident at post offices as motorists jostled to
register their vehicles.
Angry motorists last week castigated Goche for being indecisive and failing
to professionally run parastatals under his ministry, most of which have
been reduced to empty shells.
“This sudden u-turn by Zinara clearly shows confusion and indecisiveness
bordering on wanting to extort money from motorists,” said one motorist,
Richard Chingore.
From June 30, motorists would be required to fork out US$45, up from US$20
for vehicle registration.
“There is definitely something wrong with the Ministry of Transport. first
it was change of number plates, which we hear would soon be changed again,
then came the looting of tollgate fees and now there is chaos in vehicle
registration,” said Chingore.
The MDC-T has also expressed concern over the scrapping of the deadline
considering that the country’s biggest post offices were only able to issue
less than 100 discs per day.
“Zinara should be organised and efficient and not punish the people of
Zimbabwe for its inefficiencies,” said the MDC-T in a statement. It said the
registration forms must be available online to enable motorists to register
on the internet to save time.
The party urged Goche to ensure that the revenue collected from the
motorists was properly accounted for to facilitate national development.
Analysts said the indecisiveness shown by Zinara mirrored the general policy
inconsistence, mismanagement, corruption and incompetence of entities under
the Ministry of Transport.
The analysts said almost three years after the erection of tollgates, which
bring in millions of dollars every month, the country’s roads still have
nothing to show for it.
From August 2009 to April this year, Zinara collected a whopping US$57
million from tollgates, of which about US$47 million was disbursed for road
network maintenance.
In spite of this, the dualisation and rehabilitation of the Harare-Masvingo
road, Harare-Gweru road and other roads has not moved an inch. Built as
temporary structures, the tollgate structures have remained the same.
Engineers have already condemned the structures as a health hazard to
motorists, workers and a mockery to engineering. There is no facility to
record the number of cars passing through; the structures are too narrow for
some vehicles while the roofs are too high, exposing workers to rain.
As if that was not enough, the workers still collect fees while standing.
“It’s not only about these tollgates,” said Engineer Elias Mudzuri.
“Look at the current chaos in vehicle registration, Air Zimbabwe, National
Railways of Zimbabwe and other parastatals under the Ministry of Transport.
They have collapsed.”
Last year AirZim, which had been failing to pay workers, was suspended by
the International Air Travel Association (Iata) for reneging on paying
subscription fees to the organisation. One of its planes was briefly
impounded after it failed to settle debts to an UK-based firm.
Goche, a former Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, could
not be reached for comment last week, as he was said to be out of the
country.
His secretary said Goche would call back, but had not done so by the time of
going to print.
Goche, also a former Minister of State Security, also presides over Civil
Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (Caaz), NetOne and Telone.
But a senior official with the Ministry of Transport said it was not fair to
blame Goche for the collapse of the parastatals because he inherited the
problems.