Vehicle overloading bill criticised as punitive

A vehicle mass bill tabled in parliament on Tuesday has faced criticism from opposition parties for being punitive rather than aimed at regulating road usage.Landless People&#039;s Movement (LPM) leader Bernadus Swartbooi said the bill seeks to ring-fence truck drivers and squeeze people out of business.He also expressed concern that the bill grants excessive discretionary power to the minister and the Roads Authority, which undermines parliament&#039;s oversight power."You will squeeze out certain providers in the transport sector, and they will relinquish that service to fewer and richer operators. This bill makes entry into transportation impossible," he argued."It does not give people breathing space. On the one hand, you are decriminalising, and on the other hand, it is a penalty. "Is it solving something? No, it is creating a sectoral discriminatory challenge,” Swartbooi warned.Accountability a key objectiveIn his motivation, transport minister John Mutorwa said the new legislation seeks to hold the logistics chain accountable for overloading and to ensure they compensate for road damage as a result of excessive loads. “The success rate of prosecution of road traffic offences, including overloading offences, in the country’s courts is very low. The expectation is that if the process could be removed from the court system and dealt with administratively, then the success rate would be increased.”He also pointed out that the new legislation would now also hold accountable the consigner, the transport operator and the individuals receiving the goods, not only the driver, who until date has carried the responsibility alone.One of the bill&#039;s central features is setting a maximum permissible mass weight for vehicles using the national road network. This is aimed at mitigating the rapid deterioration of road infrastructure caused by overloading, a concern that has long plagued Namibia&#039;s transport sector.Input neededLabour minister Utoni Nujoma said he cannot see how a farmer taking livestock to auction once a year can damage roads.“Let us concentrate on the big trucks, the ones carrying copper from Zambia. You can see these are heavy. This thing will damage our small businesses and farmers because they don’t cause excessive damage. Public awareness is also important, but the bottom line is that those trucks that don’t cause damage to the roads should not be punished,” he said.Mutorwa emphasised the need for thorough discussion and debate on the bill, urging lawmakers to provide input to enhance its strength and effectiveness.The discussion has been postponed to next week.jemima@namibiansun.com

Vehicle overloading bill criticised as punitive

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-18

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Vehicle overloading bill criticised as punitive

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-18

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