Own Correspondent|The government has passed a new law that will ensure that those with a minimum of ten years working for the government can import vehicles without paying any fees.

However, the law has a condition. According to a notice, when an individual is importing a car there should be an application letter for a rebate, a confirmation of employment from the responsible permanent secretary, a driver’s licence and the car should not be over 10 years old.

Furthermore, the notice stated that only private vehicles were allowed, no commercials like trucks, kombis and panel vans could be imported under the policy.

The facility has been active for nearly two months, through a statutory instrument, but the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) had not affected it, claiming they had not received the formal orders.

The civil servants who have been trying to import cars without paying any fees have hit a brick wall, as the government took time to operationalise the law.

A top official in the finance ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity, revealed that they could not start the process without a circular from the finance minister to other ministries.

“Government departments operate on circulars. In the absence of that, nobody can do anything, but now there is movement”, he claimed.

At present, the Zimra website still has any references to the policy and points to a rebate for the disabled only.

Statutory Instrument (SI) 52 of 2019 spells out the deal: “The secretary responsible for Finance and Economic Development may, according to his discretion, grant rebate of duty on a motor vehicle with a maximum import value of US$10,000 being imported by any serving public servant of Zimbabwe who has been in service for a period of no less than 10 years.”