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 Felex Share Herald Reporter
GOVERNMENT has released US$8 million to the Zimbabwe Statistical Agency to pay enumerators who participated in the 2012 census.
Population Census manager Mr Washington Mapeta yesterday confirmed the development, saying enumerators would be paid once Zimstat finishes working on distribution modalities.
“The money is with us and we are processing it. No one has received any money, but very soon the allowances will be in their accounts,” he said.
United Nations Population Fund has released US$12 million towards the process.
At least 30 000 enumerators, drawn mostly from the education sector, were part of the programme.
Mr Mapeta said the enumerators were carrying out a mop-up exercise to cover areas that could have been left out during the official counting days.
The census ran from August 17 to 27.
The mop-up exercise is expected to end today.
“Some are revisiting the areas where they might have made errors while others, who were not there, have made appointments,” he said.
“It has to end tomorrow (today) because the more we delay, the more we create problems for ourselves.”
Other enumerators, Mr Mapeta said, were in the process of bringing questionnaires to their provincial centres.
“We do not have a timeframe when the data should reach us, but we want that to be done as soon as possible. It is a matter of logistics here
because some people might be travelling from as far as Binga and this might take days before the data reaches us. After that, data collation and analysis would start immediately,” he said.
Mr Mapeta dismissed reports that some enumerators were holding on to questionnaires to induce payment of allowances.
“We have never received an official report of such things happening. We are only getting that through the media,” he said.
The 2012 population census was marred by disturbances when it started.
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Thousands of prospective enumerators wishing to take part in the process jostled at various centres countrywide to be considered for the exercise.
Census started on August 17 midnight with the counting of vagrants and those in transit.
It, however, started on August 18 in some areas due to logistical problems.
The process was also affected by late disbursement of materials while transport shortages also had a bearing on the deployment of some officers to remote areas.
A population census assists the Government and other stakeholders in planning and distributing national resources.
Zimbabwe holds a census after every 10 years, with the first having been held in 1982.
The 1982 census showed that the country had 7,6 million people.
There were 10,4 million people in 1992 with the figure rising to 11,6 million in 2002.
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