“VID to remain closed” Says Government
The government has announced that the Vehicle Inspectorate Department (VID) will remain closed because it would be difficult to maintain social distancing rules at the premises.
The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Amos Marawa said the set-up at VID depots was similar to schools hence the sustained ban.
“We put the VID in the same category as schools therefore just as schools remain shut; the department will also remain closed. Prospective drivers, for instance, need to sit down for a test as a group under supervision, and that would make it very hard to comply with social-distancing rules required by the current level two lockdown regulations,” said Marawa.
Asked what would become of those whose learner's licences expired in the course of the ongoing lockdown, Marawa said government had not yet considered that.
“It's something we have not considered at policy level. Nobody has come forward to say we have lost out so we cannot solve a problem when there are no complaints but now that you have brought it up, we will look into it and find a way forward,” he said.
Marawa also said those who require any other VID services like retests and defensive driving certificates will have to wait as every government move was guided by the existing lockdown regulations.
VID is a government department under the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, operating under the auspices of the Public Service Commission (PSC).
The closure of its 23 depots countrywide since the beginning of the lockdown at the end of March means people cannot get driver's licences and driving schools have been hit hard.
