daniel chigunwe
Freeman Razemba
Senior Reporter
MORE than 100 people in Harare have fallen victim to suspected fraudsters masquerading as distributors of driver’s licence discs.
These alleged scammers have been sending fake text messages, soliciting payments from unsuspecting individuals in exchange for driver’s licences.
The fraudsters direct victims to the Vehicle Inspectorate Department (VID) offices in Eastlea, demanding a fee before vanishing. Investigations indicate that the scammers typically charge US$50.
In a statement, the Civil Vehicle Registry (CVR) Department Registrar Mr Saston Muzenda confirmed such cases.
“It has come to the attention of the Central Vehicle Registry (CVR) that a fraudster with the following Econet numbers — 0779 171 199 and 0783 123 505 — is sending text messages to prospective drivers advising them that their driver’s licences are ready for collection.
“He interchanges the following names Mr Moyo, Mr Sibanda, Mr Nkomo or Mr Dube from VID Eastlea. Once the victims arrive in Harare, he directs them to deposit US$ 50 into either OneMoney or EcoCash account, whose details are 0715 107 676 or 0715 107 468 Ecocash 0786 721 613,” he said.
Mr Muzenda said once the money is deposited, the suspect then blocks the victims.
He urged the public to be vigilant and report such incidents to the nearest police station.
“Secondly, do not deposit any money into an account provided by a stranger. Report to the nearest police station if you are texted by any of the above listed numbers to help the Zimbabwe Republic Police apprehend the fraudsters,” Mr Muzenda said.
In June 2023, Government gazetted new regulations over the recently launched new standard plastic driver’s licence linked to a database that will replace the metal licences and has reset the classes of licence, split both the bus and heavy truck classes and added in a sub-class for tri-bikes and quad bikes.
This followed the gazetting of new regulations, Statutory Instrument 119 of 2023 under the Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations, 2023, by the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development Felix Mhona.
The new Zimbabwean licence is scannable and meets standards of SADC, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East African Community. In the region, South Africa and some other countries already use plastic licences also known as plastic polymer licences.
At present, those who pass the Zimbabwe driving tests at VID depots countrywide are immediately issued with a temporary paper licence before obtaining the metal licence a few months later.
One of the advantages of the new plastic licences is that they will be printed instantly and have security features that will make them difficult to forge, as well as being scannable so checks can immediately confirm the authenticity and reveal any legal issues.
The new standard plastic driver’s licence launched in Harare in 2023 to replace the metal licences will clear a backlog of approximately 600 000 applicants who were waiting for their driver’s licences to be printed and issued since 2019.
The backlog was created by the use of obsolete equipment at the Central Vehicle Registry (CVR), as well as a shortage of materials to produce the costly metal discs.
Drivers will now be able to receive their licence within seven to 10 days from the day they pass their tests and will pay US$5, or the equivalent at the official exchange rate on the day of payment, for the disc. An online booking platform is available for applicants to make appointments for the capture of biometric details.
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