HARARE — Zimbabwean motorists who repeatedly pay toll fees, vehicle licence fees and fuel levies are entitled to know how much money is collected and which roads it has repaired, a senator has said, calling for annual disclosure of road-user revenues and spending.
Senator Teresa Kabondo told the Senate on Tuesday that motorists contribute to the country’s road network every time they buy fuel, license a vehicle or pass through a tollgate, yet the poor condition of many roads continues to raise questions about how the money is being used.
“The motorist therefore, has already paid,” Kabondo said during debate on the state of Zimbabwe’s road network.
“Madam President, after having paid, he is entitled to ask a simple question. What did my money build?”
Kabondo said the demand should not be interpreted as an accusation against the institutions responsible for collecting and distributing road revenues, but as a call for greater accountability.
She said Parliament and the public should be told how much was collected in road-user charges during the previous financial year, how much was distributed to individual road authorities, which roads received the money and what was constructed or maintained.
“If those answers are satisfactory, the accounting will vindicate the responsible institutions,” Kabondo said. “If they are not, then this House has found the problem the motion is looking for.”
Kabondo called for the relevant parliamentary committee to demand a comprehensive report covering road revenue collections, disbursements and completed works.
She said such information should not have to be requested on an ad hoc basis but should be presented to Parliament every year.
“Money collected from the road users for the road must reach the road,” she said. “Where it is diverted, this House should be told in advance and told why.”
The senator said Zimbabwe’s road problems went beyond major highways, arguing that deteriorating rural feeder roads imposed costs on some of the country’s poorest communities.
She said motorists and transport operators ultimately passed the costs of damaged tyres, increased fuel consumption and vehicle repairs on to passengers and consumers.
Poor roads also affected farmers trying to move produce to markets, she said.
“Delay is not merely inconvenience,” Kabondo said. “Delay is a tomato that arrives at the market soft. Delay is the milk that sours before it is sold. Delay is a load of produce that arrives after the buyer has gone home.”
Kabondo said deteriorating feeder roads could also cut rural communities off from schools, health facilities and markets.
She said the consequences could include ambulances failing to reach patients in time, children struggling to get to school and buyers no longer travelling to collect farmers’ produce.
The senator argued that Zimbabwe had a maintenance problem as much as a road construction problem and said rehabilitation projects should be accompanied by sustained maintenance.
She backed calls for road rehabilitation and maintenance to be treated as a national economic priority but cautioned that declaring it a priority would achieve little without measurable commitments.
“A declaration on its own changes nothing,” Kabondo said.
She called for a funded, multiyear road program identifying the roads to be worked on and setting timelines against which Parliament could assess government performance.
“If it means anything less than that, then it is a press statement and it is not a priority,” she said.
Kabondo also called for greater attention to roads serving agricultural areas, mining districts, tourism destinations, border posts, schools and health facilities.
She said heavy commercial haulage was accelerating the deterioration of some roads and argued that businesses whose operations were principally responsible for road damage should contribute toward their maintenance.
Other senators also raised concerns about whether Zimbabwe’s approach to road rehabilitation was delivering durable improvements.
Senators argued that the central question was why Zimbabwe continued to experience widespread road deterioration despite having road-user revenues, dedicated institutions and an established legal framework.
