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OpenMetal Driver’s Licences To Be Replaced With Plastic Discs
Zimbabwe will soon replace the metal licences still being issued with new standard plastic driver’s licences linked to a database.
The plastic driver’s licences will meet the international standards of SADC, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East African Community and also allow more categories.
Currently, those who pass driving tests at the Vehicle Inspectorate (VID) depots countrywide are issued with a temporary paper licence before obtaining the metal licence later.
The metal licences are, however, not readily available and drivers have been made to wait for long periods to get them, with the current backlog at 600 000.
In a statement released on Wednesday, 07 June, Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona said the plastic discs will be issued from 19 June after launching the new national driver’s licences. He said:
The new National Driving Licence System that we will be launching soon will also enhance our capacity to develop an electronic Database of all licenced Drivers which will be linked to all relevant stakeholders and enforcement agencies.
The 13 categories of the new Driving Licence conform to the requirements of the United Nations Convention on Road Traffic; International Organization for Standardization and International Electrotechnical
Commission.The 13 categories of the new Driving licence will, amongst others, make provision for the combination categories of a vehicle and trailer.
The new categories will also accommodate the different sizes of vehicles and prevent the current scenario where drivers are tested on a small vehicle and then be authorised to drive a very large vehicle which the driver may not be able to control in a safe manner.
Mhona said that professional drivers will be progressively certified, unlike the current scenario whereby one instantly becomes a Professional Driver upon obtaining Class 2. He said:
After the transitional phase, the new Driving Licence will consolidate the Professional Driver’s Permit and the Defensive Drivers Certificate onto a single card.
Professional Drivers will be progressively certified, unlike the current scenario whereby one instantly becomes a Professional Driver upon obtaining Class 2.
We will now have the following Professional Driver Permit Categories:
Code G for Goods vehicles with a Gross Vehicle Mass exceeding 3 500kg. The applicable minimum age for this category is 18 years;
Code P for Passenger vehicles with a seating capacity of more than 8. The applicable minimum age for this category is 25 years; and
Code D for Dangerous Goods vehicles for the transportation of Hazardous and Dangerous Goods. The applicable minimum age for this category is 25 years.
All Professional Drivers’ Permits will be renewable after every two (2) years and the drivers will be required to go for Eye Test to assess vision and the ability to focus on and discern objects. Similarly, the drivers’ biometrics will also be periodically updated in the System.
Other drivers outside the Professional Drivers category will also undergo Eye tests and updating of their biometric records after every 5 years.
Mhona said his Ministry has put in place a strategic operational plan to clear the backlog of 600 000 applicants waiting for their Driver’s Licenses to be printed and issued by the Central Vehicle Registry (CVR).
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