Farai Dziva|Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government is battling to produce metal licence discs for drivers due to shortage of foreign currency.

More than 150 000 drivers who passed road tests are yet to receive metal licence discs.

CVR Registrar George Makoni has said shortage of foreign currency is causing the delays.

“As you may know, foreign currency is scarce and our Government has priority areas to disburse foreign currency to . . . It is not anyone’s fault, it is our situation as a country at the moment.

The challenges have been compounded by inadequate manpower.

Our department has 85 approved posts countrywide.

Those 85 are responsible for making licences for all people in Zimbabwe, and not all of them are in production.

All licences that we make are made using manual equipment. Our systems are not yet computerised. We are using old equipment which was acquired way back.

At any given time, we can only produce 48 licences, while Vehicle Inspection Department is churning out 9 000 drivers monthly. From September 2018 up to now those licences have not been made yet,” Makoni told state media.