Wisdom Samanyai, the head of licensing at Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), said there was nothing wrong with the proposed changes to the Broadcasting Services Act, reported The Herald.
These changes would require motorists to buy car radio licences before they can purchase vehicle insurance and registration.
He explained that the amendments aim to strengthen the enforcement of the law.
Samanyai said this in a presentation at a joint meeting of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committees on Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, and Transport and Infrastructural Development on Monday, February 3.
The meeting was held to discuss the changes to Clause 15 of the Broadcasting Services Amendment Bill, which is currently being debated in the National Assembly.
The new rule would require motorists to buy car radio licences before they can obtain vehicle insurance and registration.
The money will be collected by the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA). Said Samanyai:
So, we have a good number that would avoid and say they are removing the radio altogether. I don’t want to be found wanting, but there are also those who just choose to say we are evading, probably consciously or subconsciously.
They will just decide they are not going to comply with this very same Act, which then pushed us to then find a way. First and foremost, we wanted to help our agencies to enforce this legal requirement.
Hence, we had to be explicit in as far as this Bill is concerned, to say nobody is allowed to either go on to purchase their insurance or road licence before first complying with the Broadcasting Services Act requirement, which is making sure that your radio licence is paid for.
ZINARA CEO Nkosinathi Ncube said that his organisation is prepared to implement the law once it is enacted. He said:
We need to underline that we support Government decisions, parliamentary decisions, and the progress that it brings to the nation. So, we’re always there to support.
And as Government agents, we make sure that we fully implement that which the Government will then put through and which is good for the country.
Ncube emphasized the need to ensure that, once passed, the new requirement would not interfere with ZINARA’s mandate to collect funds for road construction and maintenance.
He also revealed that 70 per cent of vehicles on the country’s roads, or just over 800,000 cars, are compliant with license and insurance payments.
Dave Roberts · 2 weeks ago
The issue of vehicle listeners ****nces, and indeed home TV ****nces has been a huge bone of contention to us all for many years.
I get extremely het up about this matter.
Last year, the ZBC fee was higher than the actual car ****nce fee! How insane is that?
I have looked up the fees for 2025 and it seems to be:
Private Vehicle annual ****nce fee (2251-3000kg) is USD60 per term = USD180 per annum
Private vehicle ZBC ****nce fee USD 92 per annum.
Company vehicle ZBC ****nce fee USD 200 per annum. (This is of even more irritation to me - my wife's car is merely owned by a company, it is not a "Company Vehicle" So we have to pay USD 200 - ridiculous.)
Here are my ongoing comments on the above:
WHY should we pay such massive ****nce fees to ZBC - they do absolutely nothing, they play mostly music and have just about no other programmes of interest.
All they achieve is to pay outrageous salaries to senior management and buy the usual highly expensive vehicles for said management (Toyota Landcruisers and Prados for example).
We get no benefit from having these ****nses.
ZBC to not share the ****ncing fee with the other radio stations (Star FM, ZiFM, Capitalk etc)
Moving on to TV ****nces - most people (myself included) don't have any way to watch ZBC at all - and why would we want to as their programming is useless if not non-existent.
Let's now move on to numbers - using the quoted figures in the article above - 70% of vehicles (800,000) on the road are compliant. So extrapolate this:
800,000 is 70% so 100% is circa 1,150,000 vehicles. Just use the "Private" motor vehicle rate of USD 92 per annum - that comes to USD 105,800,000 - yes, over 105 million US Dollars. Lots of cars and salaries there and NO programming!
It makes me spit and, as always, as Zimbabweans, we just shrug our shoulders and say " oh well. another tax" - adding to the 90 odd taxes and fees we are already exposed to here (as per many discussions on social media).
Oh, and the exemption for TV ****nces if you are over 70 years old apparently does NOT apply to vehicle radio ****nces...
Time for us to STOP putting up with being ripped off by the unbelievable number of local "authorities" we are exposed to in this land.
Anonymous · 2 weeks ago
Hear, hear. A very good analysis of this outrageous rip off, by another useless state entity. I would venture to say that, even the Zbc people, don't watch or listen to the drivel they put out everyday? I ripped out my car radio. 15 years ago, last saw a Zbc tv show 25+ years ago.
Anonymous · 2 weeks ago
I have 7 cars, none have radios and most are 6 volt, so cannot have radios anyway,, so why must I buy car radio licenses for each car. These guys are ****s. I will not buy car licenses and if I can't license the cars so be it. It's time people said enuf. Say no to car licenses all together and if zbc closes, so be it. I know a guy with nearly 200 cars, most are exempted, now they don't want you exemption them, you have to license them and not only pay zbc on each one but also the rip off car license fees and RTA insurance, which no one can claim from, all this to drive on our stuffed roads. It's time that zinara and zbc got booted