ELLT to fight corruption, reduce road accidents


Lazarus Sauti

Corruption, the utmost single nuisance of our society today, is like a leech. It sucks the blood of innocent people.

Similar to cancer, corruption is halting socio-economic growth, as well as causing high levels of road carnage in Zimbabwe.

The Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) said that about 2 000 accident-related deaths were recorded in 2018, a fact supported by Transport and Infrastructural Development minister, Hon. Joel Biggie Matiza, who added that most of these accidents were a result of faulty vehicles that were ‘passing’ fitness test through corruption.

Furthermore, Hon. Matiza attributed some of the accidents to half-baked drivers who acquire licences through corrupt means.

“The nastiest ailment in this country is corruption, which is stalling social and economic transformation, over and above causing high levels of traffic-related accidents,” he said, adding that the only panacea is transparency.

To enhance transparency, bring sanity in the issuance of provisional driver’s licences as well as inspection of vehicle fitness and reduce road accidents in the country, the Government, through the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development rolled out an Electronic Learner’s Licence Testing System (ELLT).

“The purpose of the system, which was developed under the Zimbabwe Integrated Transport Management Information System (ZIMTIS), is to enhance transparency and reduce human involvement in the issuance of drivers’ licences,” said Hon. Matiza.

He also said that the system, which has been successfully completed at Vehicle Inspection Department (VID) Eastlea, VID Chitungwiza, and VID Bulawayo depots, will also be speedily rolled out to all 24 VID depots countrywide.

Hon. Matiza added that under ELLT, prospective drivers are no longer required to bring drivers’ licences photographs as these are captured by the system as part of registering one’s biometrics.

“This new system, which resonates well with the Southern African Development Community’s endeavour to harmonise and standardise driver training and testing requirements within the region is convenient and effective.

“It first captures personal details of the aspiring learner driver such as name, surname, nationality, national I.D. number, home address, cellphone number, as well as vehicle class to be obtained. 

“More so, it does the marking automatically upon completion of the test without human involvement. Because of this and other features, I strongly believe it will curtail corruption and improve efficiency in the issuance of drivers’ licences,” said Hon. Matiza.

Sharing the same sentiments, director for Transport Management and Development in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development, Dr. Johannes Pedzapasi added that the system augments transparency by having added features for audit trails.
“The system not only provides a complete and credible electronic database for all transactions, therefore, enabling an audit trail to be achieved, but it captures biometric features such as photo capturing, fingerprints, signature and eye testing,” he said.

Dr Pedzapasi also said that tests will be centrally and electronically administered at the VID head office in Harare and each candidate will write a different set of questions from the next candidate during the same session and in the same exam room.

He summed up: “The ELLT system, which was launched on the 15th of April 2019 and will be integrated with the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol), and Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) for authentication and verification of documents at a convenient time is a strategy to remove human interface so as to curb corruption, improve customer convenient and transparency in the testing of learner drivers in line with global trends and best practices.

“The system cannot be manipulated and does not print a Learners’ Licence Certificate for unsuccessful applicants.”

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