Driving in Harare

Fines & your rights

Zimbabwe's Standard Scale of Fines is set by Statutory Instrument 14A of 2023, in force since 22 February 2023. Fines are gazetted in US dollars and payable in local currency at the prevailing interbank rate of the day. What an offence costs is set in two steps: the law says which LEVEL an offence carries, and the scale says what that level is worth. That is why the levels below matter more than any single figure: when a new scale is gazetted the amounts move, but the levels stay put.

The complete scale, read from the gazette notice itself. Levels 1 to 3 are the only ones that can ever be settled at the roadside. The rest exist because other laws point at them: the offence of not producing your licence at all, for instance, reaches Level 5.

A deposit fine (the kind an officer can offer at the roadside) cannot exceed Level 3, US$30, or the maximum fine for that particular offence if that is lower, whichever is the lesser. That cap is in the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act itself, not police policy. Anything graver is not a roadside matter: it goes to court. The police work from a National Schedule of Deposit Fines mapping each offence to a level, and every line in it tops out at Level 3, exactly as the Act requires. The individual amounts below come from that schedule.

Speeding, by how far over you are

For light motor vehicles, from the ZRP schedule. Two ends of this table are worth knowing: up to 5 km/h over the limit is a caution and carries no money at all, and more than 50 km/h over is not a deposit-fine matter, so an officer offering to settle that one at the roadside is not following the schedule.

What we understand about your rights

• Paying a deposit fine is your choice, not something an officer can require. This is the actual wording of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act, section 356: a person "MAY sign and deliver" a document admitting guilt and pay a deposit. May, not must. If you do not sign it, the ordinary process applies: you are summoned, and you put your case to a court.
• The cap is statutory: a deposit fine may not exceed Level 3 (US$30), or the maximum fine for that offence if that is lower, whichever is the lesser. Section 356 says so in those words.
• The Bulawayo High Court has ruled on this directly. In S v Babbage 2012 (2) ZLR 125 (H), the court held that police have no general right to insist on payment on the spot, and may not hold your vehicle or your licence to force you to pay. Veritas reached the same conclusion in 2021: a motorist must be given the option of paying later if they admit guilt, or of going to court if they do not.
• Road Traffic Act section 74: an officer may ask for your licence, and if you cannot produce it, may then ask you to prove your identity. Only if you fail to do BOTH may the vehicle be detained, and then for no more than 24 hours. Proving who you are is what removes the detention power.
• Section 74(3) and (4): failing to produce your licence is an offence UNLESS you take it to a police station within seven days, say you are producing it to comply, and name where and when you were asked. Do that and there is no offence, and the station must give you a receipt. Not doing it reaches a Level 5 fine (US$200) or six months.
• Three things widely stated as law that are not, and it is worth knowing which is which. There is no deadline in the Act for paying a deposit fine or electing trial: the standard the High Court set is simply "a reasonable time". And neither "Form 265" nor the "Z69J" receipt appears anywhere in the statute. Both are real police administrative forms, described consistently as such since at least 2017, but they are practice rather than law. A receipt should still be issued for any payment you make.
• In early July 2026 the ZRP was reported to have published its own plain-language guide to fines and motorists' rights. We could not obtain it, and the single report of it repeats at least one outdated line, so we have not relied on it for anything above. Everything above comes from the statutes and the case law instead.

Report a rogue officer

Source: SI 14A of 2023 & the ZRP National Schedule of Deposit Fines·checked 16 Jul 2026

SI 14A of 2023, the Standard Scale of Fines notice (gazette text)Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act [Chapter 9:07], section 356 (full text)Veritas Zimbabwe, "Spot Fines: Are They Legal?" (Bill Watch 36/2021)Road Traffic Act [Chapter 13:11], section 74 (full text)ZRP National Schedule of Deposit Fines (traffic offences), 2024 circulated copyZRP on roadblock siting and oversight (press statement, 23 Oct 2025)

What your car must carry

What a private car must legally carry, under SI 129 of 2015. The section is headed "Spare wheel, tools and fire extinguisher: all vehicles" and applies to every motor vehicle other than a motor cycle, so private cars are squarely in. A lot of confusion circulates about this list in both directions: some of what "everyone knows" is a myth, and some of what people assume does not apply to them actually does. Fines are from the ZRP deposit-fines schedule, whose section references match the gazette text exactly.

• Fire extinguisher (required)

  A serviceable extinguisher of at least 0.75kg for a light vehicle (1.5kg for a heavy one). It must be a type approved by the Standards Association of Zimbabwe or another international standards authority, with that approval visibly marked on it, and secured somewhere easily accessible and visible inside the cab. This applies to ordinary private cars, not just kombis and lorries: that is the myth. Public service vehicles carry additional requirements on top, not instead. Foreign-registered vehicles in transit or on a temporary entry permit are exempt.

  Level 1, US$5 (SI 129 s53(1)(d)(i)).

• Two red warning triangles (required)

  The driver must carry two. If you are towing, two more are required for each trailer. They go 30 to 50 metres from the vehicle when you break down.

  Level 3, US$30 to fail to carry them. Level 2, US$15 to fail to display them when required.

• Spare wheel, jack, wheel spanner (required)

  A serviceable spare wheel, an efficient jack, and a wheel-brace or spanner that actually undoes your wheel nuts. Each is a separate requirement and a separate offence. If you are towing a trailer, the spare-wheel equipment must also fit the trailer.

  Level 1, US$5 each (SI 129 s53(1)(a) to (c)).

• Reflective vest or hi-vis jacket (not required)

  Not required for people in cars. This is a myth, and a persistent one. SI 129 requires approved reflective clothing only for someone riding a motor cycle or a pedal cycle at night, visible from at least 50 metres. There is no such offence for a car driver anywhere in the deposit-fines schedule.

  No fine: not a private-car requirement.

• Front and rear retro-reflectors (required)

  Two white at the front, two red at the rear, within 400mm of the side edges. They must be honeycomb or diamond grade, and the right shape and size. The continuous reflective strip you see on lorries is a heavy-vehicle rule, not a car one.

  Level 1, US$5 (several separate offences: wrong grade, wrong shape, wrong colour, wrong size).

• ZBC radio listener's licence, or a no-radio declaration (required)

  Since a Broadcasting Services Amendment Act change took effect on 15 July 2025, a current ZBC radio licence has been a precondition for renewing both your ZINARA licence disc and your motor insurance. There is no direct roadside fine for lacking one: the bite is administrative, in that you cannot renew. Worth knowing if your car has NO radio fitted: the Act's own Eighth Schedule provides for a signed declaration to that effect, sworn before a commissioner of oaths. A fact-check has specifically rebutted a ZINARA memo that demanded a paid ZBC-issued certificate instead, so you should not need to buy anything for a car with no radio. On the fee, the Herald quotes SI 203A of 2025 setting a private vehicle at US$28 per term from 15 January 2026, and puts that at about US$84 a year, which implies a term means four months. We have not read that instrument ourselves and earlier figures conflict (US$30 per term and US$23 per quarter were both reported during 2025), so treat the amount as indicative and confirm with ZBC.

  No direct fine: it blocks your disc and insurance renewal instead.

Source: SI 129 of 2015: Road Traffic (Construction, Equipment and Use) Regulations·checked 16 Jul 2026

SI 129 of 2015, Road Traffic (Construction, Equipment and Use) RegulationsZRP National Schedule of Deposit Fines (traffic offences), 2024 circulated copyZINARA to require a ZBC licence before disc renewal (Pindula News, 15 Jul 2025)

Licensing & fees (VID / ZINARA)

The driver side (learner's licence, road test, the plastic licence) and the vehicle side (ZINARA disc, registration, plates) sit under different Acts and are amended on different schedules, so it pays to keep them apart. The driver-side fees below are quoted verbatim from the Fifth Schedule of SI 119 of 2023. All of them may be paid in local currency at the interbank rate of the day.

The ZINARA licence disc is priced by vehicle mass and licence term (4, 6, 8, 10 or 12 months). For a light vehicle up to 1500kg that is US$40 / US$60 / US$80 / US$100 / US$120 respectively.

One useful thing to know about the learner's licence fee: SI 119 of 2023 says an applicant must send in "a prescribed fee" for the test, but the schedule never actually prescribes the amount. So the gap is in the instrument itself, not in our research, and the fee is set administratively. Also not confirmed from a source we could read: the cost of the physical plastic licence card, current toll fees on the Bulawayo-Beitbridge and Bulawayo-Victoria Falls roads, and the exact street address of the VID Bulawayo depot. When the examiner takes a test fee, section 12(6) says they must give you a receipt.

Source: SI 119 of 2023, SI 67 of 2024 & SI 10 of 2026 (Veritas Zimbabwe)·checked 16 Jul 2026

SI 119 of 2023, Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) RegulationsSI 67 of 2024, Vehicle Registration and Licensing (Amendment) RegulationsSI 10 of 2026, Vehicle Registration and Licensing (Amendment) Regulations

Parking & clamping

Parking and clamping rules for Harare have not been documented yet.