Zimbabwe\u2019s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has signed into law a contentious bill that requires all motorists to buy a radio licence before acquiring vehicle insurance.<\/p>\n
There has been an outcry from some motorists as they will now have to pay $92 (\u00a368) annually in order to listen to the radio in their vehicles.<\/p>\n
The introduction of the measure is part of a plan to widen revenue sources for the state broadcaster but critics say the licence fee is too high, especially given the difficult economic situation.<\/p>\n
Leading opposition figure Nelson Chamisa said the new law was \u201ctoo draconian, anti-citizens and outrightly heartless\u201d.<\/p>\n
Responding to motorists\u2019 concerns on social media, Nick Mangwana, a senior official in the ministry of information, said the new law was \u201cnecessary\u201d and \u201cfair\u201d.<\/p>\n
There are about 1.2 million registered cars in the country but only 800,000 of them pay insurance, according to local media.<\/p>\n
The loss-making Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) relies for income on the licence fee as well as government grants, It also generates some revenue through advertising.<\/p>\n\n
But the broadcaster is struggling to make people pay for their TV and radio licences.<\/p>\n
Critics have been calling for the scrapping of the fee, accusing ZBC of biased coverage in favour of the governing Zanu-PF.<\/p>\n
The opposition has complained of unfair coverage by the broadcaster, especially during elections. ZBC has denied the accusation.<\/p>\n
Under the new Broadcasting Services Amendment Act, all motorists must now pay the radio licence fee before they can renew their vehicle insurance or obtain a licence from the Zimbabwe National Road Authority (Zinara).<\/p>\n
The changes, which were recently approved by parliament, pegs the fee at $23 per quarter, amounting to $92 per year.<\/p>\n
However, ZBC can grant exemptions to those who qualify, including tourists visiting the country.<\/p>\n
But the new amendment aims to eliminate loopholes and boost compliance with the requirement to have a licence.<\/p>\n
It prohibits all motor insurance companies from selling their products to motorists who do not hold a valid ZBC radio licence, unless they have a ZBC exemption certificate or the vehicle being insured does not have a radio receiver.<\/p>\n
But the law has drawn sharp criticism from motorists and opposition groups, terming it a burden on taxpayers.<\/p>\n
\u201cCitizens are being pauperized left, right and centre, why does the citizenry of this country deserve so uncaring & heartless a leadership?\u201d Chamisa posted on X.<\/p>\n
Another X user described the measure as an \u201cunjust assault on motorists\u201d.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Zimbabwe\u2019s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has signed into law a contentious bill that requires all motorists to buy a radio licence before acquiring vehicle insurance. There has been an outcry from some motorists as they will now have to pay $92 (\u00a368) annually in order to listen to the radio in their vehicles. The introduction of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115658\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}