I know many of you have that laminated blue little paper in your glove box right now. There are 800,000 of you in that boat, with the Central Vehicle Registry having a backlog that dates back to 2019. It looks like you are finally getting a proper driver’s licence now.
The Transport and Infrastructural Development Ministry has finally launched the plastic driver’s licence we knew was coming.
What is special about it is that it is scannable, harder to forge and compliant with standards set by SADC and other African bodies among other things.
Source: Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development
You would think it’s not worth mentioning but you would be surprised, the licence is not that size. The above is a prop card to showcase what it looks like. The actual size is similar to the bank card’s.
With the new licence being made of plastic, it should be quicker and cheaper to produce. They say going forward those who pass their test can expect their licence after no more than 7 to 10 days. So, hopefully, this means no more backlogs going forward.
It will cost US$5 or it’s kgs worth of ZW$ to get yourself one of these bad boys.
If you have a metal licence, you don’t have to go get the new one, for now.
If you have the blue certificate you are going to have to go plastic. They are doing it in an orderly fashion and they are starting out with those that passed their tests from January to June 2019.
It doesn’t hurt to book right away though so, here is how you go about it:
- Send a message that says “hi” on WhatsApp to 0778112264 or;
- Visit cvrbookin.motzw.com
The website is not working, so you are better off just going the WhatsApp route.
For frequently asked questions on the issue click here.
Electronic testing system and digital route permits
It wasn’t just the SADC-compliant driver’s licence that was launched but also the Multilingual Electronic Learner Licence Testing System and the Digital Route Permit System.
People have been able to take their learner licence tests digitally for a while now. The following was in 2018: Provisional Driver’s Licence Tests To Be Taken Digitally From December
So, the electronic learner licence testing system is not new. What’s new is the “Multilingual” part. Where we discriminated against those who don’t understand English, we will now accommodate more people.
We are not sure exactly how many languages have been added but we expect Shona and Ndebele to be on the list.
Digital route permits were announced a couple of months ago. See, public transport vehicles need to get permits to operate. The permit includes which routes they are allowed to serve.
Now, by digitalising the permits, it makes it easier for anyone to check whether a bus is permitted to be going where it says it is going. There is a digitally signed barcode on the permit which is readable by any mobile phone.
We have heard many cases of people boarding what they thought were licensed minibuses with the relevant permits, only to be robbed and thrown out of moving vehicles. If you could scan a bus’s permit before boarding, that would be something.
The benefits of digital permits extend further. The Digital Route Permit System is integrated with the Central Vehicle Registry to validate vehicle licensing and registration. The system is also integrated with insurance companies to validate third-party motor insurance and passenger liability cover.
The Ministry says this will mean reduced waiting times for bus operators. The Ministry itself will benefit from increased capacity to monitor the supply of buses on all routes.
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31 comments
At least the backlog will be sorted but who the hell came up with that kak design 😂😂😂😂😂😂
I have to agree. It looks terrible.
As long as there is no timeline for the clearing of the backlog, this will be just PR.
Don’t know. We might be surprised.
Nice UI 🙂
Thank you. Still ironing out stuff.
Back to plastic licences? Will hang onto my metal one thanks! The reason they changed from plastic to metal, was so they were more durable and harder to forge. Made sense then, as now. Wondering what the cost will be as well…
Metal might be hard to forge but it’s too expensive.
Unfortunately, it seems they can no longer reliably produce legible licences (and reprint ID’s). Its a shame though, it was a nice little Zimbabwean quirk😄
Shona yeeerrrr, ndebele yeeerrr
Finally
It was quite funny that at the launch they said they’d be produced *instantly*, then oddly enough you have to wait 7 days to get it.
Why? Because someone realised that without a man-made delay it would be very hard to corruptly issue licences. The golden goose is still very much alive.
They had said ‘instantly’ nhai. So, they know that their equipment can manage that. Then someone called the Minister to the side and said, ‘Mukuru tikaita zve ipapo ipapo tinofa nenzara plus cut yenyu iya anoita ma1.’ Then instantly became 7-10 days.
I think you wanted to say Central Vehicle Registry instead of Civil Vehicle Registry?
My goodness 🤣🤣
CVR and ZIMRA should be integrated for the purpose of registering newly imported vehicles.
Great idea that. It would be resisted by those that are ‘paid’ to move things along though.
How much is the provisional test now
How about people who lost their metal licences before 2018 or even earlier, but currently using the blue laminate.What’s the way forward?
Apa kuti rinopera nekuti tinomawana sei takatorawo last year chaiyo
I have to agree, great idea
What happens when they expire? Since they are valid for 5 years?
You’ll have to renew it by updating your biometrics, going for vision tests,,
At least i thought i would be going back to the drums again
Its good
What happens when they expire, since they are valid for 5yrs?
Am l going for drums again?
New UI looks clean… Congrats
It is a good step ahead due to the advancement of technology
This is 100pecent good , because it’s not all of us who understands English, now it will be very easy for everyone to have a license
Good move bt It wasn’t English stopping people from getting these licenses.. just saying
Let’s review this after one year… I’m sure tichangodzokera kwatirikubva.