By Rutendo Mapfumo
The Regional Third-Party Motor Vehicle Insurance Scheme, commonly known as the Yellow Card scheme, facilitates intra-regional trade and tourism.
The Yellow Card scheme is a scheme that provides third-party legal liability cover and compensation for medical expenses resulting from road traffic accidents involving visiting motorists.
Speaking during the official opening of the COMESA 38th meeting of the Bureau for Regional Third-Party Motor Vehicle Insurance, held from 25th to 28th February at A zambezi River Lodge in Victoria Falls, Sibongile Siwela, Insurance Director at the Insurance and Pensions Commission (IPEC), revealed that the Yellow Card scheme has gained widespread acceptance among motorists in Zimbabwe.
“The Yellow Card Scheme has been widely embraced by Zimbabwean motorists and has significantly contributed to facilitating cross-border movement of vehicles, goods, and people within the region,” said Siwela.
Both Zimbabwean and foreign motorists can now obtain the Yellow Card locally, and even beyond, under the Business to Business (B2B) arrangement.
This innovation has simplified cross-border travel and eliminated unnecessary delays at border points, thereby protecting nationals in member states and significantly boosting intra-COMESA trade and tourism.
Zimbabwe experiences high traffic volumes with Mozambique and South Africa, both of which are not currently part of the Yellow Card system.
“The Council of Bureaux has made a landmark decision to implement the COMESA Yellow Card in non-COMESA-SACU countries, namely Mozambique and South Africa, through the B2B arrangement. This initiative will facilitate economic integration by enabling the more efficient movement of people and goods, achievable only through the harmonisation of the COMESA and SACU systems,” explained Siwela.
Meanwhile ,Calvin Mutyavaviri, Chief Executive Officer of the Council of Bureaux Secretariat, remarked that the 38th meeting of the Bureau for Regional Third-Party Motor Vehicle Insurance underscores the unwavering commitment of the government of Zimbabwe to the COMESA regional economic integration agenda.
“The 38th Meeting of the Council of Bureaux of the Yellow Card Scheme, taking place here in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, is the second such meeting since the Council of Bureaux became an independent COMESA institution,” noted Mutyavaviri.
The Council of Bureaux is on track to fully develop its administrative capacity in alignment with the provisions of its Charter, which derives from the Protocol on the Third-Party Motor Vehicle Insurance Scheme, Annex II of the COMESA Treaty..
