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Nov 11, 2023

Motorists Who Illegally Remove Wheel Clamps Risk Imprisonment

Bulawayo City Council has warned motorists who evade paying parking fees by

Bulawayo City Council has warned motorists who evade paying parking fees by removing wheel clamps from their vehicles that they risk being jailed.

This was said by Bulawayo City Council Acting Senior Security Traffic Officer, Ndumiso Ndlovu, in an interview with CITE.

Ndlovu was speaking on the progress of the city parking system, which is being implemented by Tendy Three Investments (TTI).

TTI is set to effect new parking packages on 01 June 2023. The packages come in three categories, Silver package pegged at US$30 per week, Gold Package pegged at US$60 per fortnight and US$90 per month.

Ndlovu acknowledged that there are instances where clamped motorists remove the clamps from their cars and drive off. He said:

That is a very serious offence that one can be reported to the police. According to the city by-laws, one can be jailed for up to a year or can be fined up to US$50 or both.

… As a council, we are selling parking time. As such we have demarcated and clearly marked parking bays with white boundary lines which are either broken or solid.

The ones demarcated with yellow lines are totally different and you have to fall into specific categories to park there. These are taxi bays, offloading bays, cyclist bays, ambulance, etc.

However, by practice, we do not clamp any vehicles where parking bays are not clear.

The challenge comes up when you avoid the demarcated bays and park elsewhere.

BCC parking project manager, Vusisizwe Sibanda, said that according to the city by-laws, motorists should pay first before leaving their cars. He added:

At the beginning of June, we are introducing a system where we are saying for the first five hours if you have not paid you will not get clamped.

It is only after you have accumulated five hours that you will get clamped. This will benefit those who would have forgotten to pay.

Accumulation of a debt of five dollars is quite justifiable for attracting a fine.

The penalty would be clamping fee for $10, a fine of $10 and the amount that you would be owing for parking.

TTI chairman, Lizwe Mabuza, said they have improved their system to make it more convenient for motorists. He said:

We have made changes to our systems. The system we have now is such that when the marshals print a ticket for you it will show the time you have paid, when it will expire and underneath it will show if you have arrears.

These can be debts dating as far back as you have accumulated them. If the information is not very clear to you, you can ask for a detailed printout which will show the amount of time you parked and the location.

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