Zimbabwe and other African countries should ban the importation of second hand vehicles and create their own indigenous automotive sectors that produce vehicles that are fit for their environment to accelerate industrialisation on the continent, an official has said.

Nissan Group director of sales and operations for Africa, Jim Dando said currently there were about 45 million vehicles in Africa and most of these vehicles were never intended for African “road conditions or our fuel quality”.

“We end up with ostensible mobility solutions that in reality are bad for the health of our people, both in terms of the damage they do to the environment and the risk they pose for both passengers and drivers,” Dando said in a statement.

“The only sustainable solution for Africa is to clean up the fuel quality, ban the importation of second hand vehicles and create Africa’s own indigenous automotive sector, producing harmonised vehicles that are fit for Africa. This will create jobs directly, fast track the industrialisation of the continent and change the many economies that are still largely resource based.”Newsday