Delta Corporation’s Enduring Commitment to Road Safety Delta Corporation has once again showed its profound commitment to encouraging road safety, promoting professional excellence, and maintaining sustainable transport operations by conducting the 2025 edition of its highly anticipated annual Driver of the Year Competition in Harare.
This important event drew a distinguished audience, including senior executives from the corporation, notable government leaders, key transportation industry stakeholders, and members of the press. Mr. Matts Valela, CEO of Delta Corporation, Mr. Johnphas Gweru, General Manager of Delta Beverages Transport Services, members of the Delta GMC team, senior government officials, and a key speaker, Mr. Nkosinathi Ncube, CEO of the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA), were among those in attendance.
Mr. Nkosinathi Ncube acknowledged Delta Corporation for its ongoing support of this program during his address to the audience. He said that the competition, which began in 1990, has evolved into one of Zimbabwe’s most respected and effective business safety programs. He described the event as a powerful example of a tried-and-true way for raising professional standards, increasing operational efficiency, and encouraging safer road use across the country.
Mr. Ncube emphasized the importance of the combined event, which comprises both the Driver of the Year Competition and the Forklift Truck Operators Competition. He saw this dual focus as a powerful sign of effective collaboration inside Delta’s complex logistical network. While truck drivers are the company’s most visible presence on public roadways, forklift operators are the unsung heroes that labor tirelessly behind the scenes in warehouses and loading bays. He explained that they work together as the critical twin engines that power Delta’s complete logistics system, ensuring that every product is moved and delivered with the utmost precision, safety, and dependability.
He highly commended Delta for its continuous and substantial investment in cultivating a strong, internal safety culture that deliberately goes above and beyond mere statutory compliance.
Mr. Ncube acknowledged that the company’s proactive, self-regulatory approach has successfully established new benchmarks of operational safety within the competitive transport and logistics industry. The core goals of the competition are focused on sharpening drivers’ skills, deepening their knowledge, improving their behaviour, and shaping their attitudes.
This is done with the aim of instilling a sense of pride among drivers and reinforcing Delta’s public reputation for excellence and responsibility on the roads. He also expressed his approval of the plans to expand the competition to include operators of light motor vehicles, viewing this as a forward-thinking move toward building a truly unified safety culture across Delta’s entire vehicle fleet.
Aligning the competition’s ethos with the national Vision 2030, Mr. Ncube stressed that the program actively supports key national objectives related to human capital development, the enhancement of overall safety, and the establishment of sustainable transport practices. He acknowledged the crucial, productive collaborations between Delta Corporation, the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, and the Zimbabwe Republic Police. He made it clear that the goal of achieving safer national roads is attainable only when the public and private sectors commit to working together.
In his capacity as CEO of ZINARA, Mr. Ncube pointed out the fruitful working relationship between Delta and the road fund administration. He shared key statistics, revealing that approximately 940 Delta vehicles are currently registered within ZINARA’s licensing system, with 854 ZINARA cards being actively used at tollgates. He highlighted that this significant participation directly contributes to ZINARA’s ambitious One Million Mark Mission, which aims to license one million vehicles in 2025.
He then took the opportunity to gently encourage Delta to enroll its remaining vehicle fleet in the e-tag system, which is now fully operational at 23 of Zimbabwe’s 29 tollgates, as this would guarantee a seamless, contactless passage for their logistics operations.
Furthermore, Mr. Ncube brought attention to ZINARA’s current payment plan promotion, which is specifically designed to assist both individual motorists and corporate entities in clearing any outstanding arrears. He extended a direct invitation to Delta to utilize this plan to regularize the licensing or exemption status of any vehicles that may require it.
Reflecting on the program’s long-term impact, he noted that over the years, the competition has demonstrably contributed to measurable reductions in road traffic accidents, significantly strengthened occupational health and safety standards throughout the logistics chain, and empowered drivers to become respected road safety ambassadors within their own communities. These collective successes directly support the nation’s overall targets for building safer and more efficient transport systems.
Mr. Ncube congratulated all of the winning drivers on their outstanding devotion to excellence as the ceremony came to a close. He concluded by praising Delta Corporation once more, under the direction of Mr. Valela, Mr. Gweru, and the larger management team, for its ongoing investment in driver up skilling and for continuously promoting road safety through this genuinely admirable annual program.