The following from Dick & Sally Pitman:

WHAT WILL THEY THINK OF NEXT?The Zimbabwean police seem to have got bored with fining people for not having reflective stickers. Instead, fire extinguishers are the current flavour of the year. The regulations introduced last year merely say that you should have a ‘serviceable’ extinguisher, of appropriate size for your vehicle, and that it should carry the approval of the Standards Association of Zimbabwe or of your own country of origin. However, the regs do not define ‘serviceable’. Nor do they require regular servicing. Nevertheless, some creative cops have been asking for proof of regular servicing, and imposing fines in the absence thereof. It’s worth arguing the toss, because most informed opinion says that your extinguisher is OK  – i.e. ‘serviceable’ – if the gauge is in the green.

 

In urban areas, actually stopping – and we mean to a dead halt – at ‘stop streets’ is advisable, because the aforementioned creative cops have taken to positioning themselves out of sight around the junction, together with a plainclothes ‘spy’ at the stop sign itself, who lets them know the number of cars that do not in fact come to a full and uncontradictable halt. You then get nailed for twenty bucks.

 

Less creative and much more potentially fruitful in terms of road safety is the enforcement of the prohibition against using mobile ‘phones while driving. A court appearance is mandatory, and you can be fined up to US$5000 or more, and/or jailed for a minimum of two weeks, which is enough to spoil anyone’s holiday. Having been nearly rubbed out more often than I can remember by dilly dollies, weaving wallies and moronic maniacs with cellphones glued to their ears, I’m all in favour of this. However, hands-free kits appear to be OK.

 

Remember, too, that this will probably be applied to hand-held radios as well, so if you have one, don’t use it while driving. Ask your passenger to use it. And – as we’ve pointed out before – if it’s not licensed for use in Zimbabwe, you do risk being nailed for that as well.