VEHICLES clamped and towed away by the council for violating traffic regulations in Bulawayo will now be sold if owners do not settle outstanding penalties within a month.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
The Bulawayo City Council said Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo had approved by-laws authorising the local authority to penalise traffic offenders in several ways and by even selling impounded vehicles.
By-laws are contained in Statutory Instrument 63 of 2015 (Bulawayo City Council Clamping and Tow Away) by-laws 2015, under the Urban Councils Act.
Traffic offences include for example, failure to have a pre-paid parking disc which is set at $36,35 (for three months), $20 (30 minutes zone booklet), $17 (one-hour zone booklet) and $13 (two-hour zone booklet).
Nesisa Mpofu, the council’s public relations officer, said clamped vehicles would be towed away to the council compound after the two-hour deadline, after being kept at the compound for a month and sold if the owner does not settle the penalty, including towing and storage charges.
“5(1) Council shall publish in any newspaper circulating within the council area a list of vehicles immobilised and advise owners to claim the vehicles within a period of 30 days. (2) Council shall sell by public auction any vehicle that remains unclaimed 30 days after a notice has been published,” Mpofu said in a statement.
“4(4) A motor vehicle removed to a secure compound shall be released upon payment by the owner of such motor vehicle of the prescribed fine and wheel clamping, tow away and storage charges specified in the schedule.”
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Mpofu urged motorists and the public to observe by-laws or be penalised.
For boarding a vehicle at an undesignated zone, a passenger will be fined $5, throwing litter out of a vehicle $5, parking vehicle without a pre-paid parking disk $10 while taxi cabs carrying more than three passengers at the back seat will be fined $5 per extra passenger.