Car ownership a must for public transport permit

Prospective public transport permit applicants will have to prove they own vehicles before they are issued with vehicles under new rules proposed by the Roads Authority (RA), chairperson of the Transportation Board of Namibia Browny Mutrifwa said.

This follows an announcement by the RA that public transport permits will no longer be issued on an indefinite basis but instead on a two-year renewal basis.

"We will only give permits when you are able to prove that you have got a vehicle of your own; we can’t give permits to people that don’t have cars," Mutrifwa said.

Prospective applicants will also be turned down if the system shows that they already hold existing transport permits, Mutrifwa said.

"We have taken a position that anyone that applies for permits, we must do an enquiry on the system to see if the person has more than one permit. Anyone who has more than two permits, we will basically just decline because we believe it will give economic opportunity to everyone out there," he said.

Clearing database

The introduction of the renewable permit regime would also help the RA clear its database.

"This exercise is very important to us. It is also an opportunity to clean up the database because we believe there are people who have been issued permits that have already departed the world," he said.

Existing applicants have from 1 December until 30 June 2023 to apply for the conversion of their current indefinite permits, he said.

Applicants and those converting their permits will be required to submit certified copies of their identity documents not older than three months, vehicle permits and a certificate of code of conduct.

Vehicles for which permits are being sought will have to gain a police clearance.