Government is moving to clamp down on overloaded mining trucks, with mobile weighbridges set to be deployed in mining areas and offenders facing hefty fines as authorities intensify efforts to protect the country’s road network.
The crackdown, led by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development in partnership with the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA), follows concerns over trucks carrying loads far beyond the capacity of roads, accelerating infrastructure damage and increasing maintenance costs.
Speaking after a joint meeting of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committees on Transport and Public Accounts at Parliament Building in Mt Hampden, on Monday, Ms Makumbe said overloading was particularly prevalent in mining areas, where heavy trucks were placing excessive strain on roads.
“Some mining trucks are reportedly carrying up to 70 tonnes on roads designed to accommodate a maximum load of 30 tonnes,” she said.
She urged mining companies and transport operators to act responsibly, warning that damaging roads through overloading would ultimately undermine their own business operations.
“If you run down that road in two years, what are you going to be travelling on to continue with your business?” she said.
Makumbe said operators could use Vehicle Inspection Department (VID) facilities across the country to weigh their trucks and ensure compliance with prescribed loading limits.
The immediate deployment of weighbridges in motion is expected to strengthen surveillance and enforcement in mining areas, while ZINARA is pursuing longer-term measures to rehabilitate existing weighing facilities at border posts and toll plazas and install additional ones along major roads.
“In the long term, ZINARA has flighted tenders for repairing weighbridges at the various borders and various toll plazas and also putting in new weighbridges at various sections of the road where they are necessary,” she said.
Makumbe warned that authorities would not entertain negotiations or payment plans for penalties imposed on offenders.
“ZINARA will not be taking any negotiations, will not be taking any payment plans. They will just be wanting you to pay. So the best way is just to load responsibly,” she said.
The enforcement measures place greater responsibility on mining companies and transporters to comply with loading regulations, as Government moves to curb road damage and safeguard public infrastructure.
