It is not just ZINARA and ZRP who have launched a blitz targeting motorists for various offences. ZBC seems to have joined the fray too. Over the past couple of days, several individuals have confirmed ZBC’s presence on a lot of roads where they seem to have latched onto police officers conducting various checks on cars. While ZINARA officers are looking for licences and the police for unregistered vehicles, ZBC personnel are looking for individuals who have not yet paid their radio licence fees. Most cars come with radios and ZBC charges a higher licence fee for these but most people do not like paying their licence fees for various reasons.

Current car radio licence fees are as follows:

  • For an individual-owned car, you are supposed to pay US$25 per quarter. You of course have the option to pay in ZWL at prevailing willing buyer willing seller rates
  • For a company-owned car, the fee is double at US$50 per quarter. Again this can be paid in ZWL at prevailing willing buyer willing seller rates.

NB. You can view other ZBC TV and Radio licence fees here.

Why people do not like paying

There are two main reasons why a lot of people do not like paying for radio licences. The most cited reason is that they are not even listening to ZBC. Most people use Bluetooth or modulators to play the music they want a lot of the time. However, the constitutional court ruled in 2016 that as long as you have a device capable of receiving radio signals you are obliged to pay radio licence fees. The second reason often given is partisanship with those who oppose the government’s policies saying the state broadcaster is captured. They point out the fact that government officials are almost never criticised by ZBC as evidence of this.