At least four Vehicle Inspectorate Department (VID) officers based at Chitungwiza Depot located at Makoni Shopping Centre are under probe for allegedly soliciting money from people acquiring driver’s licences and provisional (learner’s) licences.
Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona and a team from his office visited the depot on Monday, 4 March unannounced after receiving messages and anonymous letters sent to his office alleging egregious corruption at the depot.
Mhona spoke to driving instructors and the public waiting to take their tests at the depot.
During the conversations, the names of the four examiners were continuously mentioned, prompting the minister to order investigations. Said Mhona (via The Herald):
This was a surprise visit here at Chitungwiza VID. The purpose of us coming here together with my team from the ministry and VID officials from head office was basically to drive and run with the vision of His Excellency Cde Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa that we don’t tolerate corruption in this land.
So we are here to demonstrate to the people of Zimbabwe that whenever we say we have a listening President, he is saying I want you to go and descend on VID.
Why VID? Because several anonymous letters were coming through stating we have problematic officers but I said at times you need to be on the ground to hear for yourself.
So I came here unannounced to engage the officials and the stakeholders who are very important as they deal with issues of testing.
As you have seen, I have engaged with the citizenry, those who were waiting to be tested for the provisional licences and also for the certificate of competency, which is the road test, and also the stakeholders — the instructors.
But you know the problem is it takes two to tango and at the end of the day you have seen that whenever you address people on issues of corruption at times the people don’t open up, but eventually if you engage them bilaterally you hear more.
Mhona said the officers were likely to be moved from the depot as investigations continued. He said:
My team is going to engage and interrogate and also carry out engagements with the officers who have been named and shamed.
And we are saying in the meantime, come this week, we are going to be moving those officials from here so that they don’t continue victimising our people.
A local businessman and founder of Ring Driving School Onias Sanangura thanked Mhono for engaging stakeholders, saying they will go a long way in eradicating corruption.
