Well I am officially a car owner! But the system here to buy a car is unbelievable! When you buy a car, you first take it to the central police station in Southerton, which is just outside the city limits and is at the edge of one of the high-density areas. Your car waits in line where the engine number and license plate is checked. You then take the paper you are given to an office where a man signs the paper. You then go to another office where the numbers are run through the computer to check that the car and engine aren’t stolen. Luckily for me ZESA was working and I was able to have this done. From there you go to another office, where they check your paper work for the “Agreement of Sale”. They make sure that you in fact bought the car and that the person who sold it to you agreed to it. I bought my car from a company called Origin. They are an agriculture firm. Since the owner didn’t want to come with us, he signed an Avadavat. This allows me to buy the car and do the paper work without him being present. The officer at the office thought he could make a few dollars off of me and wanted to see the ID of the man who signed the paper. I told him that he didn’t need to since the Avadavat means that his presence isn’t necessary. He shrugged and moved on. I had to give him my thumbprint, which was messy, God bless hand sanitizer and I managed to get most of the dye off. From there you head to another office, where a man stamps your paper stating that you have been cleared. We then had to go to ZimRA, which are the tax people. Your car is evaluated and then charged 5% tax. When you go to the office, someone reads over your paper work, makes sure all the right things are there and all the right papers have been signed. He then writes out a receipt with the amount you owe. You take it downstairs to the cashiers floor and pay, where you get another receipt. You head back upstairs to the first office you went to and hand in the receipt. They then take all your original copies plus a second photocopied set (which you bring with you) and they give you a reference number and a date and time to collect them. Now I was very fortunate and had someone with me to show me what to do and who to see. He works for the man who sold me my car. He’s a driver and a mechanic, Lazarus. Without Lazarus, I would’ve torn out all my hair and cried. At ZimRA, the woman behind the desk asked if I worked with Lazarus and knew who he was because there are people who wait outside ZimRA for people like me and offer to help them out for a fee and end up taking them for a ride. I thought she was very sweet to check up on me and make sure I was all right. So Thursday at 1pm I can go and pick up my certificate and paper work from ZimRA and head off for the next set of appointments, which include: registration, licensing and number plates. Every time the car is renewed or re-sold the plates get changed. The only reason for this is because there is 1 woman in town that can do this and she wants to make money. I was fortunate in that I didn’t wait in line all that long, some people wait days at ZimRA, and the police line is around the block. I started at 10:30 and finished at 12:30 both places. I then went to a garage and picked up an emergency car kit, which included: jumper cables, motor oil, brake fluid, electrical tape and spare spark plugs. So until Thursday…