FULL TEXT: CHRA Urges Residents To Resist Council's Roads Levy

The Combined Harare Residents Association is calling all residents of Harare and motorists to resist machinations of the introduction of a roads levy by the City of Harare.

The move comes at a time when ZINARA has totally failed to use vehicle licensing and toll gate fees in road maintenance and rehabilitation.

We assert that any form of introduction of road tax or levy in Harare is double taxation and must be resisted by the residents and motorists.

The road levy is a move to cover up failures by ZINARA to be accountable, rehabilitate and maintain roads when it is collecting vehicle license and toll gate fees.

We are very clear that the current state of roads in Harare and Zimbabwe, in general, is a result of a centralized governance system that is not responsive to local needs since the ZINARA takeover of vehicle licensing in 2008.

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We reiterate our position that if the government of Zimbabwe intends to improve the state of roads there should be political will from the Cabinet to reverse the ZINARA takeover of vehicle licensing from local authorities.

Residents and motorists should not pay the price and bear the burden of failing institutions such as ZINARA through the introduction of roads levy via the backdoor.

This injustice in the making is not welcomed in Harare where citizens have been grappling with over-taxation. We expect Harare City Councilors to make a rational decision and embark on broader consultation on this pertinent matter.

Furthermore, ZINARA must publish the amount of vehicle license fees that it has collected in Harare for the year 2020 and the amounts it has disbursed to the local authority for the same period.

In line with devolution enshrined in Chapter 14 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, we call upon the government of Zimbabwe to devolve the powers and functions of vehicle licensing to local authorities.