Harare, June 7, 2023 (New Ziana)-Zimbabwe is ready to roll out new plastic driver’s licences in compliance with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) requirements, a cabinet minister said on Wednesday.
Transport and Infrastructure Development Minister Felix Mhona told journalists that the new driver’s licence, which will be renewable every five years, is expected to be unveiled on June 19.
“I am happy that this is one of our major milestones in terms of being SADC complaint regarding the issuance of licences. The new driver’s licence is fully compliant with the standard specifications of SADC, the COMESA (the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) and the East African Community. This demonstrates our commitment to harmonised and standardised driver training, testing and certification within the entire 25 tripartite regional countries,” he said.
The new licence enables local drivers to drive in 25 African countries including South Africa, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Lesotho, Libya, Eritrea, Libya, Egypt, Ethiopia and Somalia.
It also enhances the country’s capacity to develop an electronic database of all licensed drivers which will be linked to all relevant stakeholders and enforcement agencies, said Mhona.
At least 13 categories of the new drivers’ licence conform to the requirements of the United Nations Conventions on Road Traffic, the International Organisation for Standardisation and the International Electro-technical Commission.
“The categories will also accommodate different sizes of vehicles and prevent the current scenario where drivers are tested on a small vehicle and be authorised to drive a very large vehicle which the driver may not be able to control in a safe manner,” said Mhona, adding his Ministry was putting in place a plan to clear the backlog of drivers licence disks, currently sitting at 600 000.
“I am pleased to inform you that during the first phase we will prioritise those with certificates of competences issued between 1 January 2019 and 30 June 2019. Subsequently, other drivers on the backlog will be informed,” he said.
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