96 ZNA, ZPCS officers get driver’s licences

02 Jul, 2017 - 02:07 0 Views

The Sunday News

Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
A total of 96 service personnel drawn from the Zimbabwe National Army and the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services graduated with Class One and Two civilian driver’s licences course at Imbizo Barracks on Friday.

The guest of honour at the event, Lieutenant-Colonel Trouble Chito who is the commandant Medical Training School said many officers were driving without driver’s licences, which was not commendable.

“The aim of the two driving courses was to equip the students with thorough knowledge, skills and attitude on how to drive Class One and Two civilian vehicles. This came about against a background that many military officers and senior non-commissioned members were driving both their military and civil vehicles without valid drivers’ licences.

“This would not only pose great danger to the lives and equipment of other road users, but would also cause such drivers to incur some unwarranted legal liabilities when they get involved in road traffic accidents,” he said.

As such, he said, the ZNA headquarters’ authorised each and every Formation HQ to run such courses in order to circumvent the challenge. Through the driving programme, HQ Bulawayo District has so far managed to produce a total number of 160 drivers (inclusive of both officers and senior non-commissioned officers); which is a positive development to the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.

Lt-Col Chito said the two courses graduating were heavily packed with both theoretical lessons mainly based on the Zimbabwean Highway Code and the instructors’ personal experiences. That aimed at enabling the students to write and pass both their provisional and drivers’ licences set and marked by the Vehicle Inspection Department (VID) of Zimbabwe.

As an incentive, the commander Bulawayo District said some of the graduands would undergo a Class “B” Military Drivers’ Conversion to enable them to effectively drive military vehicles during war and peace times.

The officers were told that driving was a delicate psycho-motor skill which needed to be perfected continuously.

They were also told that they still needed some time to gain the necessary experience required of a proficient driver.

He thanked the VID personnel for supporting members of the uniformed forces of Zimbabwe in acquiring both provisional and driver’s licences.

To date, more that 350 Bulawayo District Members have benefited from the programme.

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