Zimtis to fight corruption, tame the traffic jungle

Lazarus Sauti

Corruption is the adversary of development, and of good administration; it must be disposed of.

Both the government and the general population everywhere should come together to accomplish this national target.

These are the expressions of Pratibha Patil, an Indian government official who served as the 12^th President of India from 2007 to 2012.

Corruption is a melanoma that is not only stalling socio-economic growth, but causing high levels of road carnage and loss of human capital in Zimbabwe.

According to figures from the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ), a total of 1 838 accident-related deaths were recorded in 2017, translating to 153 deaths monthly.

The figures also revealed that road accidents are costing Zimbabwe up to 3% of the gross domestic product (GDP), meaning the country is losing about $406 million annually.

Sikiru Adeyemi Balogun, in his paper Importance of research and statistics as road traffic accident reduction strategy, noted that these losses due to road accidents can be greater than the amount received by Zimbabwe and other African countries in international aid and loans.

He also said corruption as well as traffic incidents and accidents contribute to decreasing levels of transport system reliability and safety in any country.

Conversely, the government of Zimbabwe introduced the Zimbabwe Integrated Transport Management System (Zimtis) to eradicate corrupt activities, tame the traffic jungle and increase levels of transport system reliability in the country.

Former secretary for Transport and Infrastructural Development ministry George Mlilo, said the purpose of the system was to improve the organisation and operational efficiency at the Vehicle Inspection Department, Zimbabwe National Roads Administration, Central Vehicle Registry, Zimbabwe Republic Police and Zimbabwe Revenue Authority.

“Zimtis aims at coordinating five key facets of the country’s transport management system such as road policing, well-organised use of national infrastructure and synchronisation of information among relevant government departments,” Mlilo said.

Mlilo also believed the system will enable departments and agencies such as Zimra, CVR and Zinara to monitor how vehicles are moving in the country from the minute they arrive at the border for clearance and to track whether they have been retested for road fitness.

Sharing the same sentiments, Passengers Association of Zimbabwe president, Tafadzwa George Goliati, affirms that the digitalisation of departments involved in traffic and safety management will ensure that all drivers on the country’s roads are licensed correctly.

“Without doubt,” he said, “drivers with illicitly acquired licenses are fuelling road carnage along the country’s highways. Thus, the introduction of the system will help in fishing out these traffic offenders.”

Goliati also said all vehicles must be fitted with speed governors as a matter of urgency.

“Rwanda initiated and imposed speed governor systems in all buses and this reduced accidents in the country,” he said.

Tatenda Chinoda, TSCZ public relations officer said Zimtis is a huge leap forward in terms of harnessing integrated transport communication to control and enforce traffic laws.

“This is a plausible attempt to remove human interface in the same and thus eliminates the incidences of any bribery or corruption which may take place,” he said.

Chinoda adds that road user behaviour, especially that of drivers is expected to improve drastically owing to fear of penalties when the driver is found on the wrong side of the traffic laws.

“It also means a lot of primary evidence is gathered against traffic offenders and hence processing of road traffic offences by the judiciary is made swifter,” he said.

Transport management researcher, Gift Taderera, who also thinks that research and statistics are critical road traffic reduction strategies, said the development of integrated transport management enables significant improvement in traffic flows, efficiency of passenger and goods transportation and safety and security of passengers.

“Integrated transport systems used by road authorities, as well as emergency and preventive service providers offer detailed data on traffic incidents which can be used at planning and operational levels of transport security management,” he said.

Transport and Infrastructural Development minister Joel Biggie Matiza pronounced that Zimbabwe was committed to the United Nations declared Decade of Action for Road Safety, which envisages a reduction in road traffic deaths by 50% by 2020.

He, therefore, urged the police to also use breathalysers and speed cameras to complement the transport integrated system and curb road accidents which are gulping down Zimbabweans.

(c) Newsday, Monday December 31 2018.