THE Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) has started the de-registration of vehicles that have remained unlicenced for more than two years.
This comes after Zinara released a statement last month advising vehicle owners to renew their licences or risk deregistration of their cars once the deregistration notice has been gazetted.
If a vehicle is de-registered, it legally becomes valueless as the owner cannot sell it.
Authorities estimate that up to 800 000 vehicles are not up to date with licencing and those in arrears of two or more years are now targeted for removal from the list of legally licenced vehicles.
Zinara public relations manager Mr Tendai Mugabe yesterday said the deregistration process was now in progress and they were waiting for the gazetting of the list of vehicles to be affected.
"As you noted, Zinara and CVR (Central Vehicle Registry) issued a public notice informing the public on the intention," Mr Mugabe said.
"The second stage will see gazetting of the list of vehicles as required by law. The gazette will give motorists 30 days to regularise, failure to which a vehicle will be de-registered. Exempted vehicles are deemed licenced by law, so they will not be on the deregistration list," said Mr Mugabe.
To re-register, the owner of the vehicle has to pay outstanding arrears and penalties, including insurance, and get clearance from the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority that the vehicle was legally imported into the country.
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In addition, the vehicle has to be cleared by the Vehicle Theft Squad and the Vehicle Inspection Department before it can be driven on the country's roads.
In a statement, last month, Zinara said the exercise would give Government an updated record of licenced vehicles.
Zinara said the move was in line with provisions of the Vehicle Registration and Licencing Act which empowers the registrar to cancel licences for vehicles with outstanding fees exceeding two years.
"The Central Vehicle Registry and Zimbabwe National Roads Administration issued a joint statement and would like to inform the motoring public that all vehicles that have not been licenced for a period of two years or more will be automatically de-registered from the Central Vehicle Registry database," Zinara said.
"To avoid de-registration of your vehicles, we appeal to our valued motoring public to comply by ensuring that their vehicles are properly licenced."
According to Zinara, once a vehicle has been de-registered, its re-registration process includes, clearance of outstanding vehicle licencing arrears, police clearance and a certificate of road worthiness from the Vehicle Inspectorate Department.
Last year, the number of registered vehicles in Zimbabwe stood at 1,5 million, with the largest concentration in Harare, although there has been a significant mismatch between the number of vehicles and those paying licence fees.
Many of the unlicenced vehicles have long been scrapped or are non-runners rusting in backyards, but their registration has never been cancelled.
