By Isaac Salima:
Some motorists have lamented the rate at which number plates are fading before their expiry date.
Some of the motorists have been taking to social media to raise their concerns, claiming that road traffic officials have been fining them for using faded number plates.
According to road traffic regulations, embossed number plates have a seven-year expiry period.
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One of Blantyre-based motorists Stanley Phiri said his number plate was supposed to expire next year but started fading some three years ago.
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“Some road traffic officers have been stopping and asking me to replace it or else I will be fined,” Phiri said.
Another resident, Pearson Kaponda, recently wrote on Facebook that he was fined K10,000 for using an obscure number plate.
“I do not know where I can fix this problem; please somebody help because yesterday I was fined K10,000,” Kaponda said, proving his point by attaching a government general receipt.
Other motorists we talked to wondered why, sometimes, Department of Road Traffic and Safety Services (DRTSS) personnel join traffic police officers in fining motorists and yet it is the same DRTSS that engages importers and suppliers of the number plates.
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Another motorist wondered why DRTSS has been allowing suppliers to be supplying substandard number plates.
DRTSS Director Andrew Sandula told The Daily Times that number plates are managed by the Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS).
“DRTSS issues importation licences to applicants who meet Malawi Standards and, normally, MBS conducts both pre-shipment and batch conformance tests on the number plates,” Sandula said.
However, MBS Director General Bernard Thole said they only conduct tests and that final decisions are made by DRTSS.
“When we perform the tests, we send the results to DRTSS. So, to say that MBS is monitoring the standards may not be collect. These people have been fined by road traffic [officials], meaning that they are the ones doing the monitoring,” Thole said.
