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Lloyd Gumbo Senior Reporter
At least 290 backbencher legislators will get brand new all-terrain vehicles under the Parliamentary Vehicle Loan scheme between Parliament and a local motor vehicle dealer Croco Motors, expected to gobble over US$10 million.
Government set a ceiling of US$35 000 per vehicle with MPs who would have settled for vehicles priced beyond the figure being asked to pay the difference.
Croco Motors will supply the vehicles on a credit facility to be settled by Government in eight months, while the legislators will payback the dues during their five-year tenure.

Effectively, the deal sidelines Willowvale Mazda Motor Industry, a local vehicle assembly firm that indicated recently that if adequately supported by Government and local firms, had the capacity produce vehicles that meet local market specifications.

The latest legislators’ deal would see all the 290 vehicles (Ford Rangers) being sourced from foreign markets including South Africa and millions being exported.
According to the deal, the legislators will repay the loans while those from the Seventh Parliament who are still owed by Government, will have their outstanding allowances liquidated through the vehicle loan scheme.

Some MPs viewed the vehicles at the Croco Motors depot in Harare yesterday.
Chairperson of a sub-committee of Parliament’s Standing Orders and Rules Committee responsible for Welfare of MPs and Staff, Cde Joram Gumbo, confirmed the deal after meeting parliamentarians from Zanu-PF, MDC-T and MDC formations.

“We have agreed that MPs can buy vehicles on loan from one supplier (Croco Motors) who has agreed to give them vehicles on delayed payment because at the moment Government has no money,” said Cde Gumbo.

He said since the vehicles were bonded, MPs would be given certificates exempting them from paying duty and value added tax.
“Government was supposed to pay a deposit for these vehicles but because there is no money and the dealer has agreed to give out the vehicles on loan, MPs can only get the Ford make that Croco Motors has agreed to supply.

“If they want any other make then it means Government will have to pay deposit so that Croco Motors can pay for those vehicles. But at the moment that will be difficult because Government has already indicated that it has no money,” said Cde Gumbo.

MDC-T Chief Whip Mr Innocent Gonese said he agreed with everything Cde Gumbo said.
MPs from across the political divide had grown exasperated with the delay by Government to provide them with new vehicles saying it frustrated their constituency work.

They claimed the executive and the judiciary were allocated top-of-the-range official vehicles soon after swearing in while they went for months without vehicles.
MPs prefer all-terrain vehicles since most of them have rural constituencies where roads are not in good state, attributed to the effects of the illegal sanctions for the last decade.

Some of the MPs who viewed the vehicles yesterday said while they welcomed the development they were not amused that they were limited to one make.
“Some of the vehicles we viewed at Croco range from $28 000 for single cab to $44 000 for double cab,” said one of the MPs.

“The other worry is that the $35 000 cap is insufficient for all terrain vehicles. And if you look at the executive and the vehicles they were given, their prices are almost double what they are giving us.”