This legislation was digitised using the Laws of Lesotho Volumes I – XLVII, which were produced by the Attorney General of Lesotho, as reference. As the volumes do not include precise publication dates, the last day of the year of publication has been used as the date of publication.
Lesotho
Road Transport Act, 1981
Act 6 of 1981
- Published in Government Gazette on 31 December 1981
- Assented to on 17 July 1981
- Commenced
- [This is the version of this document from 31 December 1981.]
- [This legislation was digitised using the Laws of Lesotho Volumes I – XLVII, which were produced by the Attorney General of Lesotho, as reference. As the volumes do not include precise publication dates, the last day of the year of publication has been used as the date of publication.]
Part I – Preliminary
1. Short title and commencement
This Act may be cited as the Road Transport Act 1981 and shall come into operation on a date to be fixed by the Minister by notice in the Gazette.2. Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—"authorised vehicle" in connection with a permit of any class, means a vehicle specified in such permit and authorised for use in accordance with such permit;"bus" means a motor vehicle used for the carriage of passengers and having more than eight seats in addition to the driver's seat;"Board" means the Road Transport Board appointed under section 3;"carriage of goods" includes the haulage of goods;"carriage on own account" means—(a)the delivery and collection by a person in a vehicle owned by him of goods sold, used or let on hire or hire purchase in the course of and ancillary to trade or business carried on by him;(b)the delivery or collection by a person in a vehicle owned by him of goods which have been, or are to be, subject to a process or treatment in the course of and ancillary to a trade or business carried on by him;"closed-door-tour" means a service provided by a passenger-carrying motor vehicle when the same group of passengers is conveyed for the whole journey without picking up or setting down passengers on route;"driver" means a person who drives or attempts to drive any motor vehicle;"fare" means the amount of money paid or payable for the conveyance of a passenger in a public motor vehicle, and the amount paid or payable for the conveyance of such passenger's luggage;"goods" include goods or burden of any description;"goods vehicle" means a vehicle wholly or primarily constructed or adopted for the carriage of goods other than any class of vehicle which the Minister may, by notice in the Gazette, declare not to be a goods vehicle for the purposes of this Act;"motor vehicle" means any vehicle self-propelled by mechanical or electrical power but excluding any vehicle running on a specially prepared way such as a railway and such other vehicles as the Minister may, from time to time by notice in the Gazette, declare not to be a motor vehicle for the purpose of this Act;"owner" in relation to a vehicle, includes a joint owner of a vehicle and when a vehicle is the subject of hire-purchase agreement or hiring agreement, includes the person in possession of the vehicle under that agreement;"permit" means a permit issued under this Act;"public motor vehicle" means any motor vehicle used for the conveyance of passengers or goods or both, for hire or reward, or plying for hire, and a motor vehicle hired out without a driver by a person in the course of his business of hiring out motor vehicles but does not include—(a)a goods vehicle, the carrying capacity of which does not exceed 1,000 kg;(b)a government vehicle used for government purposes;(c)a vehicle used for the purposes of funerals;(d)a vehicle used for towing a disabled vehicle or for removing goods from a disabled vehicle to a place of safety;(e)a vehicle equipped and used solely for fire fighting purposes;(f)a vehicle equipped and used solely as an ambulance;(g)a vehicle used under and in accordance with the terms and conditions of a motor dealer's licence;(h)a motor vehicle owned by a local authority and which is not a bus;(i)a motor vehicle which is used for the conveyance of school children and which is not a bus; and(j)any other class of motor vehicle which the Minister may, by notice in the Gazette exempt from this Act;"public road" has the same meaning as in the Road traffic Act 1981;"taxi service" means the use of a passenger car or a bus to convey a passenger or a group of passengers within a local area where the vehicle is stationed and to and from such local area for hire or reward;"trailer" has the same meaning as in the Road Traffic Act 1981.Part II – Road Transport Board and Transport Controller
3. Establishment of a Road Transport Board
4. Disqualification and termination of office of members of the Board
5. Quorum and voting at the meeting of the Board
6. Transport Controller
7. Functions of the Board
Part III – Permits
8. Permits required
9. Classes of permits
10. Short-term permits
11. Duration of permits
12. Variation of permits
13. Power to revoke or suspend a permit
14. Application to furnish details of vehicles within 3 months
An applicant shall, in the case where at the time of the application he has not yet purchased but intends to buy a vehicle in respect of which the application was made, furnish the prescribed details required for such vehicle within 3 months after the date of the approval of his application, and if he fails to do so, the approval shall lapse and no subsequent application by the same person for a similar permit shall, except at the discretion of the Board, be entertained by the Board until 6 months from the date of such application have lapsed.15. Applications if refused, not to be entertained for 6 months
Where an application made by any person for a permit has been refused by the Board, no subsequent application for a similar permit shall, except at the discretion of the Board, be entertained until 6 months from the date of such application have lapsed.16. Permit expires on sale or transfer
Where a holder of a permit sells, transfers, except by way of security for any purpose, or otherwise disposes of the vehicle, or of business in respect of which the permit was issued, such permit shall expire with effect from the date of such sale, transfer or other disposal, and the holder shall return such permit to the Board.17. Authorised vehicle not to be changed without permission
A permit holder may, in the event of a break-down or other unforeseeable emergency in connection with an authorised vehicle, temporarily substitute another vehicle for such service authorised under his permit provided—18. Conditions of permit
Part IV – Appeals
19. Appeals against the decision of the Board
20. Memorandum of appeal and notice of appeal
21. Appeal to be forwarded
The Board shall within 7 days of receipt of such appeal, forward the appeal to the Minister, together with its comments and any relevant documents, and, it shall also advise the appellant that his appeal has been forwarded to the Minister.22. Ministry to fix day for hearing
On receiving an appeal, the Minister shall fix a day for the hearing of the appeal and shall cause notice thereof to be served on every other person who has pursuant to section 20 been served with a copy of the appeal.23. Hearing of appeal
Part V – Offences and penalties
24. Forgery of permits and documents
25. Offence to operate vehicle on another's permit
Where a permit holder transfers his vehicle which relates to the permit to any other person by way of security, it shall be an offence, except with a written consent of the Board for such other person to operate that vehicle under such permit.26. Offences
A person who uses a vehicle in contravention of this Act, or, being the owner of the vehicle, permits it to be used and a driver or other person in charge of any authorised vehicle who uses such vehicle in contravention of the permit to which it relates, or, being the owner of such vehicle, permits it to be used, is guilty of an offence.27. Penalties where no special penalty provided
A person guilty of an offence under this Act, for which no special penalty is provided, is in the case of first offence liable to M500 and 3 months imprisonment, and in the case of a second and subsequent offence, to a fine of M1000 and 6 months imprisonment, and the court convicting a person of an offence involving an unauthorised operation of a public motor vehicle may declare the motor vehicle or the convicted person's rights in such vehicle, to be forfeited to the State.28. Power to stop and inspect
29. Regulations
Minister may make regulations for better carrying out of the objects of this Act and in particular but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, may make regulations with respect to any of the following matters:30. Repeal
History of this document
31 December 1981 this version
17 July 1981
Assented to