CENSUS
Govt could
do better
#ZIMCENSUS2022
From April 21 to 30, the government of Zimbabwe,
through the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency
(ZimStat) conducted a National Population and Housing
Census.
ZimStat is responsible for administering the conducting
of the census, whose results provide key information that
informs policy formulation and development plans. For
the first time, the census was focusing on socio-economic
and demographic characteristics of households, for
example, race, the age groups they belong to, the levels
of education, the category of work they do, whether they
own the home, the sort of fuel used in their kitchen
among other issues.
STATE SECURITY AGENTS, ZANU PF YOUTHS ENLISTED
The selection of enumerators was not
transparent, with allegations that soldiers,
police officers, members of the Central
Intelligence Organisation andnZanu PF
youths were enlisted to do some of the work.
Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency
spokesperson Mercy Chidemo confirmed that
20% of the enumerators were drawn from
unemployed youths, with the Public Service
Commission (PSC) co-ordinators conducting
the recruitment.
The involvement of members of the security
sector in the population census raised fears
of it being a calculated move by the Zanu PF
government to manipulate the results ahead
of the 2023 elections. The outcomes from
the Census and the Voter Registration
statistics are expected to inform the
delimitation exercise ahead of 2023.
IN A TWITTER POLL, ZPP
ASKED ZIMBABWEANS IF
CENSUS PEOPLE HAD
VISITED THEIR
RESIDENCY AND 34
PERCENT SAID THEY HAD
NOT BEEN VISITED BY
ZIMSTAT OFFICIALS.
RESOURCE LIMITATIONS
The population census was marred by a serious
resource shortage, and some enumerators did
not manage to start their work on time due to
transport limitations, unavailability of the
enabling tablets as well as lack of connectivity.
In most rural areas, enumerators had to walk
very long distances and crossed flooded rivers
to access some villages and this hugely
impacted on their efficiency. Some of the
enumerators that spoke to ZPP said ZimStat did
not provide adequate protective clothing such
as raincoats and material to shelter their ICT
gadgets given the prevailing bad weather
conditions.
In Masvingo’s Mwenezi district, the census
failed to start on time due to failure by
ZimStats to provide enumerators with tablets,
and it was only during the last three days when
enumerators started work.
PEOPLE LEFT OUT
ZPP continues to express concern about the huge
possibility of people having been left out of the
counting process. In a Twitter poll, ZPP asked
Zimbabweans if census people had visited their
residency and 34 percent said they had not been
visited by ZimStat officials.
This presents what is likely to be a huge gap in the
number of people counted and will likely cause a
distortion of the outcome of the census.
This is because the outcome of a census is supposed
to inform policies for the next ten years, so using
inaccurate information will likely lead to the
implementation of irrelevant policies.
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