By Pretty Manyewe
The forthcoming national census will be paperless, as the country intensifies its digital governance systems in line with the National Development Strategy 1.
Cabinet yesterday announced that preparations for the 2022 Census are now being accelerated, with the tentative dates of commencement being April 2022.
The census will be conducted through the Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) technique.
Speaking at yesterday’s Post Cabinet Briefing, the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services highlighted this new development stating that the Zimbabwe National Statistical Agency have decided to go digital during the census enumeration.
“Given that this is the first time Zimbabwe will go paperless using the CAPI technique, more than one pilot Census will be run to test the technology with re-tests being conducted. This will last up to the first quarter of 2022. The actual population census will therefore start in April 2022 with the Census results expected in August 2022 so as pave the way for the Constituencies Delimitation in October 2022,” she said.
The Census is a vital Constitutional requirement for the delimitation of constituency boundaries by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).
The last day for the delimitation is 31 December 2021.
Preparation for the Census were slightly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and had slowed down the process , however Government assures the nation that the country remains on course to conduct the Census within the prescribed timeframe for the 2023 Elections.
“Despite the Covid-19 Pandemic, the country remains on course to conduct the Census. The Ministry of Local Government and Public works is expected to conclude the boundary proclamations for Wards, Districts, and Provinces in order to ensure that enumeration areas are correctly assigned. Thereafter, the Census Field Mapping exercise can be finalised before actual enumeration proceeds,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.
“Census field mapping involves subdividing the whole country into smaller geographical units called enumeration areas of an average of 80-120 households. So far, 55 percent of the country has been successfully mapped despite ten months of programmed time being lost to Covid-19 restrictions,” added Minister Mutsvangwa.
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