Home Affairs Minister Obert Mpofu is sleeping on the job as vehicles without number plates continue to ply Zimbabwe’s roads when the Ministry of Transport has ruled that this is illegal.
Transport Minister Joram Gumbo told Parliament that he would implore Mpofu to take action and rein in his officials to enforce the regulation.
He had been asked by Bulawayo South legislator Eddie why vehicles without licence plates continued to ply the roads when his ministry had said it was illegal.
“I see vehicles on the roads without licence plates frequently. Why on earth is action not being taken by the police? If a vehicle is running around without a licence plate, you know what they are, sigebengas. I think this matter should be attended to as a matter of urgently,” Cross said.
“The Hon. Member is correct that he once asked the question and I did respond to it. The answer is that the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development and the Ministry of Home Affairs are not the same,” Gumbo responded.
“The issue is now about enforcement by the Ministry of Home Affairs. They are the ones that should not allow the cars to ply our roads without identification or number plates. The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development only provides number plates, but the enforcement is done by the Ministry of Home Affairs.”
Mabvuku-Tafara legislator James Maridadi said some of the vehicles that did not have number plates belonged to the Central Intelligence Organisation and were in the habit of following opposition legislators.
“The supplementary question, Hon. Speaker, is that we know – especially now that it is time for elections and some of us that come from the opposition have cars without number plates following us all over the place and we know that these cars are from State Security,” Maridadi said when asked by the acting Speaker how his u0llementary question arose from Cross’s.
“It is not a secret and I think those that are parked in our car park here, are either Isuzu or Nissan Vehicles that do not have numbers and they are owned by State Security, CIO, and we know that.”
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