ZimStat launches census trial run

THE Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat) will next month embark on a census trial run to test its data capture gadgets ahead of the 2022 national census.

This was revealed by ZimStat director-general Taguma Mahonde at a provincial publicity meeting in Mutare, which was attended by several government officials among other stakeholders. The census pilot project will be held from November 17 to 28, while the national census will be held from April 21 to 27 next year.

“There is another big project which will be undertaken next month, that is the pilot census project,” he said.

“We want to test our instruments. Our enumerators will be using tablets for the first time, sending data to the national server on the same day. Unlike in the previous census, where we used paper questionnaires and it took long to transport questioners from such areas as Ruwange in Nyanga and some areas in Chipinge, this time we will be using technology.”

Mahonde said by using technology, preliminary results of next year’s census will be expected just after three months unlike in previous exercises where preliminary results were released after almost two years. He added that government had increased the budget for next year’s census from US$85m to US$98m.

“We are happy that government has increased the budget for the next year’s census by almost US$13 million, remember we had COVID-19 which affected us and we need money for sanitisers, masks among other equipment,” he said, adding that all ZimStat officials and enumerators would be vaccinated before going on field trips.