Retesting all drivers not a solution There have been suggestions that since a substantial number of drivers have obtained their driver’s licences clandestinely and others through bribery, there should be retesting of all drivers
There have been suggestions that since a substantial number of drivers have obtained their driver’s licences clandestinely and others through bribery, there should be retesting of all drivers

There have been suggestions that since a substantial number of drivers have obtained their driver’s licences clandestinely and others through bribery, there should be retesting of all drivers

Nick Mangwana View from the Diaspora
About 90 percent of accidents in Zimbabwe are caused by human error. Even though we talk of narrow roads, vehicles which should not be on the road, stray animals and the like, all these account for only 10 percent of accidents.

At the heart of these human errors is driver’s attitudes and incompetence. A lot has been written about attitudes. These include overtaking when it is clearly hazardous to do so, overtaking on the wrong side (which in other countries they call undertaking), speeding, driving under the influence and in most cases plain stupidity. These cases will be subject to their own piece, but today’s will focus driver’s incompetence as the cause of accidents in Zimbabwe.

This writer remembers a family friend who had driver’s licence from Gwanda and he could not point where on the map Gwanda was and let alone having ever been there. The bulk of people with these type of licences had Class 2 category of licences. These were class of licences that allowed them to drive heavy goods vehicles (HGV). So these licences were not obtained for lifestyle purposes, but as an income earner. One can understand, but never legitimise people paying bribes to get a licence because they are being undeservedly failed. But who can ever validate someone getting a licence and then doing a few lessons to just have an appreciation of driving. Not competence, but just a vehicle appreciation? Shocking as it may sound, this used to happen and one hopes it doesn’t happen anymore. One hopes the Gwanda, Masvingo and Kadoma Vehicle Inspectorate Depots which used to be notorious for putting dangerous people on the road for a fee have been cleaned up. Whatever the case may be, there is still a lot of corruption involved in procuring driver’s licences and this is not a victimless crime. It’s killing hundreds and maiming thousands.

There have been suggestions that since a substantial number of drivers have obtained these driver’s licences clandestinely and others through bribery, there should be retesting. In fact, this issue was raised recently in Parliament. The Member of Parliament who made the suggestion simply felt that there should be a wholesale retesting of drivers to weed out those that should only be in a vehicle as a passenger. She made the allusion that some have even not read the Highway Code. The Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development responded by saying there was no such a policy, but if the legislature wanted regulations which made it mandatory for every driver to be tested after a certain period on the road then they could initiate such a law. His attitude was that he was open to the idea of retesting all the drivers with a Zimbabwean driver’s licence. Will this work or will it make a driver’s licence a privilege for a few?

Incompetent people have been sold driver’s licences because there is a loophole in the system and does retesting close that loophole or just recreate another avenue through which desperate people are fleeced? If people bribed or paid in kind to get that original licence, what stops those with the means, but not the competence from repeating the offence? Maybe before we start cleaning up those already on the road why don’t we ensure the integrity of the current system going forward?

In Zimbabwe, people pay way above the actual cost of any transaction. Whether it’s at the bank, getting a stamp on your passport, getting your shirt ironed in a hotel or whatever service. The price that is paid is way above the cost of executing that transaction. So if this retesting of every driver is implemented it will raise some much needed money for the Government, but at the expense of further impoverishment of the ordinary person. So there is a double edged sword there.

We have the so-called kombi drivers whose adherence to road rules is next to non-existent. It has come to light that despite a solid framework on who should be allowed to drive passenger vehicles, a lot of those causing havoc on our roads do not meet these requirements and regardless of so many road blocks and police check points, they continue to drive anyway. How they manage that is anyone’s guess. Maybe they pay a dollar each time they pass through, who knows? What is known is that retesting is not going to close that glaring loophole.

After accidents involving kombis it is not unusual to find out that the driver was not licensed or did not have the requisite qualifications that mandated him to drive. This is not only about kombi drivers, but they do contribute a lot to the statistics on road carnage. So how retesting will resolve this is not yet clear.

There is a serious international dimension as well. Zimbabweans have moved and continue to move to other countries seeking opportunities or simply because of globalisation. When they settle there or after a year they covert their licences to the local ones. If the issue on integrity of the licence is not addressed, we might end up with the Zimbabwean licence losing that international status and any holder of same being asked for retest before being allowed on the roads of their adopted countries.

From the rules published by the British Government on January 15, 2013, Zimbabwe and South Africa are the only two African countries whose citizens or residents can exchange their foreign licences for a British one. Outside the European Union Zimbabwe is one of only 15 countries that have such reciprocal arrangements. This puts it in the same group with countries like Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Hong Kong. This is a mark of respect because as can be clearly seen almost all the countries in this category are in the Commonwealth except for Zimbabwe. In fact, the Commonwealth has 53 countries and 38 of its members have no such reciprocal arrangements with the UK because their drivers are not considered to have been rigorously tested enough by British standards. This is vindication of the integrity of our system which is contrary to our own local perception. So anything that brings that integrity into question should be dealt with. But retesting itself will probably bring that integrity into question and scandalise our whole system. This over and above the impracticality of it.

What happens to commercial drivers? Do they lose their jobs? Most commercial vehicle companies do their own local testing as part of the interview anyway. What happens to those already in employment? Let us get this right, the suggestion to retest is not a wild one. It is a good call, but it has far reaching ramifications. The only way of dealing with this well is to close current loophole, make zero tolerance to our systems churning out half-baked drivers.

Retesting as a policy can be done, but not at the scale suggested by the Honourable Member. It can be focused and targeted. An example is those that drive passenger carrying vehicles would probably need retesting before getting permits to drive. That would take care of the kombis and other taxes. In fact, there is a good case for that.

The other group that would need automatic retesting are the functionally impaired drivers. Those over a certain age and those with certain health conditions. Zimbabwe has factored retesting into its system it might need a slight expansion. If one is banned from driving, for example driving under the influence of substances, they have to retake their competence test. This is different from even in the UK where one simply gets their licence at the end of their ban. This is part of the reason why our driver’s licences are held in high regard. But let us clean our system.

Between 2009 and 2016 as much as 199 or only 199 VID officials were dismissed for corruption. Whether this figure is too low or too high depends on one’s perception of how deep the rot runs. This type of corruption only happens because of collusion between the public and officials. Lamenting about corruption and yet paying the backhanders to circumvent the system is undermining what the system is set up to safeguard. A Transparency International Zimbabwe study shows that 65 percent of young people indicate that they have been asked for a bribe. That is a shocking figure, and clearly this is not a zanu-PF problem as some would want the nation to believe. It is a national scourge, a societal problem. And of the institutions demanding bribes VID is at the top of the pile, with 25 percent. The next in line is surprisingly, education with 18 percent and closely following is the police at 15 percent. Just to answer the reader’s unasked question, zimra is 5 percent, right below passport office at 8 percent. Health is higher than both at 10 percent.

What is clear is that a quarter of the bribes paid in Zimbabwe go towards obtaining a license or getting an incompetent vehicle or driver on the road. These figures are not a joke. So some people believe dismissing 199 officials in seven years is itself a joke.

The integrity of our country is directly tied to the perception of the integrity of our institutions. This also is tied to the integrity of the certificates that vindicate all our forms of individual human endeavour. These can be our degree certificates, driver’s licences and or any such. We have to jealously guard them against a dumbing down or trivialisation.

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