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| Noah Marima |
Moses Ziyambi
MASVINGO – Youthful businessman Noah Marima has been elected
Zimbabwe Driving School Owners Association (ZDSOA) Masvingo provincial chapter
chairperson in elections held in the city recently.
The association, which has close
to 30 members in Masvingo province alone, represents to common interests of
driving schools in the country and advocates for better working relationship
between driving school and authorities.
Marima, who is director of Junior
Driving School, Junior Microfinance and Junior Security; will lead the chapter
for the next two years when another round of elections will be due.
He has been national spokesperson
for the association before his election to provincial chairperson.
“It is a new challenge that I am
willing to take. I am fully conscious of the problems at hand especially now
that we have emerged from a difficult lockdown period when business levels were
down at zero. Most of us are struggling and we need to work together to present
a common position to authorities and the public that we serve,” said Marima.
He said he would be glad if there
are more consultative processes between government and driving schools so that
issues that affect the sector are better accommodated.
“We are facing a lot of problems
that we wish authorities could address. We need to speak to one another and
find ways in which we can take care of each other’s interests,” said Marima.
He said the recent hiking of
Vehicle Inspectorate Department (VID) fees had seen their business slowing
down.
The fees went up by an average of
over 1000 percent, with a learner’s licence certificate going up from $100 to
$1000.
He said the association was beset
by disunity which has taken back the interests of all people in the driving
schools business.
“There is no progress without
unity so I want to work for the unity of all members so that we grow our
businesses in a manner that benefits us, our communities and the economy of the
country. I would be glad to create a platform of engagement where we meet with
government on issues that affect us,” he said.
He said he was pleased by efforts
being made by such relevant government departments like the Traffic Safety
Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) to address some of the most fundamental problems
faced by driving schools.
