Nationwide blitz for IDs, civil documents
GOVERNMENT intends to issue over two million identity documents (IDs), over and above birth and death certificates, under a six-month nationwide drive scheduled to run from April 1 to September 30.
Two hundred and sixty-six (266) teams will be deployed countrywide to facilitate the process.
The blitz will coincide with the second phase of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC)’s voter registration, which will be conducted between April 11 and April 30.
Acting Registrar-General Mr Henry Machiri told that
Treasury had provided funds for the programme.
“We will be running the exercise from April 1 to September 30. Normally these exercises were done over a period of three months. However, Covid-19 disrupted most of our operations over the past two years, so we will be doing it over a period of six months,” he said.
“We also had a challenge of consumables, and this constrained our operations. However, Treasury has provided us with the necessary funds and we have managed to ensure that we target two million individuals for IDs. We will also be issuing birth and death certificates.”
In June last year, the RG’s Office suspended a two-day exercise to issue Ordinary and Advanced Level examination candidates with IDs after being overwhelmed by applicants.
Government believes this will not be the case this year.
“Requirements will be relaxed to ensure that those that require these documents will get them. Each district has its own teams and those will be mobile. So the exercise will cover the whole country and we are hoping that no one will be left behind. We have 266 teams, which are enough to cover the whole country and ensure people do not need to come to Harare but can get their documents in all the country’s districts,” said Mr Machiri.
The RG’s Office has since advised that its working hours would be extended from 7am to 7pm on weekdays for the duration of the programme.
During weekends and public holidays, applicants will be served from 7am to 4pm. Mobile teams will similarly be working from 7am to 4pm.
“This year’s mobile registration exercise comes against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic which affected the issuance of civil registration documents. The mobile registration exercise will provide an opportunity for citizens to obtain national identity documents which will enable them to register as voters in the upcoming 2023 harmonised elections,” reads a notice that has been put out by the RG’s Office.
ZEC is presently conducting a voter registration blitz that will help in the delimitation exercise, which will be done in the last three months of the year.
The Registrar-General’s Office has been finding it increasingly difficult to issue civil documents owing to shortages of consumables.
In April 2020, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission published a report titled a “Report on National Inquiry on Access to Documentation in Zimbabwe”, which recommended that the country develops a national policy on access to documentation.