City Of Harare Intends To Extend Vehicle Clamping To Residential Areas

Harare City Council has revealed its intentions to extend vehicle clamping to residential areas as it seeks to broaden its revenues flows.

This was revealed in the Finance and Development Committee minutes which observed that Harare City has the potential to collect more money if clamping was extended to residential areas. The minutes read:

The scope of operations was limited to CBD instead of the entire city. Strategically, the city should be divided into four regions extending to locations.

The local government authority recently increased illegal parking fees to restore order in the city, a development that saw wheel clamping for light motor vehicles going up to $500 from $57, while 15-seater and 18-seater commuter omnibuses now attract $600 and $700 fines respectively.

In the first nine months of this year, the subnational government clamped 36 897 cars thereby collecting about $2,3 million compared to about $444 000 in the 2018 corresponding period.

Meanwhile, Combined Harare Residents’ Association programmes officer Mr Rueben Akili said that Harare council should consult widely before introducing the new measures as ambushing unsuspecting residents will cause chaos, abuse of human rights and abuse of the policy by the council enforcement agencies.

More: The Herald