Zimbabwe E-Hailing Association (ZEHA)’s submission towards the formalisation and regulation of the e-hailing sector

1. Introduction: a sector ready to formalise

E-hailing is now part of Zimbabwe’s public-transport and urban-mobility system. It connects passengers to identifiable drivers, creates income, improves access to work and services, and generates a digital record of trips and payments. Its growth responds to demand for transport that is safe, reliable, convenient and available beyond fixed routes and timetables.

The present framework can license taxis and other road transport, but it does not yet provide a dedicated, technology-specific category that fits the platform, driver and vehicle relationship. This uncertainty exposes traceable operators and drivers to inconsistent treatment, suppresses investment and makes revenue administration harder than it needs to be.

ZEHA’s role

ZEHA is being established as the organised industry counterpart. It will not replace the State, courts or statutory regulators. It creates a disciplined bridge to law by making members contractually accountable to a common standard while Government completes the legal instrument.

• Register compliant platforms, fleets and drivers against published criteria.
• Operate a verification dashboard and ZEHA ID linked to current licences, police clearance, tax identity, vehicle fitness and insurance.
• Apply provincial operating zones and controlled intercity endorsements as an administrative compliance system.
• Enforce a Code, independent complaints pathway and sanctions ladder.
• Report consolidated, privacy-safe performance information to Government every month.

2. Contribution to the economy

E-hailing improves economic efficiency by reducing the time and uncertainty involved in finding transport. Traceable booking, driver identity, route records, upfront pricing and digital receipts improve confidence for passengers, visitors, businesses and families. Safe and reliable mobility is productive infrastructure: people reach work, health care, education, airports and commercial centres with fewer interruptions.

Income, enterprise and local value

• Driver income and flexible work, including a route into formal tax and social-security systems.
• Demand for vehicles, maintenance, tyres, insurance, finance, training, mobile data, payments and local technology services.
• Digitised trip and earnings histories that can make a verified driver bankable and insurable.
• A safer transport choice where fixed-route services are unavailable or outside operating hours.

Government revenue through visibility

ZEHA will require each platform to maintain the tax registration and clearance applicable to it, provide drivers with monthly earnings and tax statements, and support ZIMRA education. Non-resident electronic-service suppliers must comply with VAT Act section 13A and the applicable digital-services withholding framework; local suppliers remain subject to their ordinary applicable taxes.

Any driver-level presumptive or per-trip withholding should operate only through a written ZIMRA and Treasury framework stating the legal basis, rate, taxpayer credit, remittance timetable and driver statement. Where applicable, platforms should integrate with the Fiscalisation Data Management System.

3. Solutions in the interim

Registration, zones and intercity work

• Every driver selects one primary operating zone corresponding exactly to Zimbabwe’s ten provinces: Bulawayo Metropolitan, Harare Metropolitan, Manicaland, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Masvingo, Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South and Midlands.
• The primary zone is the driver’s administrative and reporting base. It is not an exclusive market allocation and does not prevent a cross-boundary passenger drop-off.
• A supplementary intercity endorsement permits a primary-zone driver to accept pre-booked trips between provinces.
• An exclusive intercity registration requires a home province for administration and permits only pre-booked intercity trips and necessary first/last legs, not unrelated local point-to-point work.

Safety, vehicles and consumer redress

• Uniform verification, ZEHA ID, current vehicle fitness and passenger-liability insurance, in-app SOS and trip sharing, and a Shared Safety Registry with due process.
• Platform complaints acknowledged within 48 hours and resolved or escalated within 14 days; ZEHA Ombudsman conciliation and a reasoned outcome within 21 days where practicable.
• No retaliation. Serious incidents go immediately to emergency services or law enforcement. Consumers retain full access to the Consumer Protection Commission and courts under sections 33 and 65 of the Consumer Protection Act.

Monthly reporting to Government

Each member supplies prescribed aggregates to ZEHA monthly. By the tenth business day of the next month, ZEHA reports registrations by zone and intercity status, trips and gross trip value, tax indicators, incidents, complaints and resolution, compliance action, verified vehicles and aggregate driver-welfare indicators. Material errors are corrected promptly.

4. Solutions in the long run

Zimbabwe should enact a dedicated, technology-neutral framework with separate platform-operator and simplified e-hailing driver permissions, one digital application window, published service standards and proportionate national and local fees. Platforms should be responsible for onboarding only authorised, fit and insured drivers and vehicles.

A 1,000-vehicle roadworthiness and ownership facility

ZEHA requests a targeted suspension of customs duty for at least 1,000 fit-for-purpose e-hailing vehicles, implemented through an appropriate statutory instrument on the recommendation of the transport authority. The request concerns customs duty; associated taxes would be treated only as Treasury approves. Zimbabwe’s 2026 public-service-bus duty-suspension mechanism offers a relevant policy precedent.

• A Zimbabwean bank finances verified drivers through affordable rent-to-buy agreements and retains appropriate security until settlement.
• ZEHA verifies eligibility and continuing Code compliance but is neither lender nor seller.
• Approved specifications cover safety, durability, parts support, insurance, scheduled maintenance and continuing certificate-of-fitness compliance.
• Allocation is transparent across all ten zones; anti-abuse controls prohibit premature resale or export and permit periodic bank, ZIMRA and transport-authority audit.

Institutional safeguards

The Founding President provides strategic continuity and protects ZEHA’s mandate and core assets. A representative Board supplies fiduciary oversight. Founding General Counsel holds a guaranteed non-voting advisory Board seat, subject to conflict, recusal and independent-counsel safeguards. Neither founder authority nor retained counsel may influence the Ombudsman, disciplinary panels, appeals, audits or statutory consumer rights.

5. Delivery timetable and conclusion

Conclusion

The choice is not between innovation and regulation. Zimbabwe can have both: an e-hailing sector safe enough for passengers, fair enough for drivers, visible enough for the fiscus and certain enough for investment. ZEHA is ready to carry the industry’s part immediately and account to Government every month while the long-term framework is completed.

Requested decisions

• Recognise ZEHA as the organised sector counterpart and agree the monthly reporting protocol.
• Provide interim administrative certainty for verified compliant drivers.
• Commence dedicated licensing and the one-stop window to the stated timetable.
• Approve policy design for the 1,000-vehicle customs-duty suspension and bank rent-to-buy facility.

Legal and policy basis: Constitution of Zimbabwe, s 267; Consumer Protection Act [Chapter 14:44], ss 6, 33 and 65; Road Motor Transportation Act [Chapter 13:15]; VAT Act, s 13A; ZIMRA Public Notices 05/2026 and 34/2026; and the 2026 precedent for targeted public-service vehicle duty suspension.

Presented for ZEHA by the Founding President and Executive Chairperson

Signature: ________________________________    Date: __________________