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Sydney Mubaiwa in Zaka
The Registrar-General’s Office will continue to issue national identity cards, birth and death certificates for free until January next year. In a telephone interview with The Herald on Tuesday, Deputy Registrar-General Mr Ben Mpala said the extension of the programme, which began in September this year, came after members of the public that missed out on the initial exercise lobbied Government.

The three-month mobile registration exercise was expected to end on November 30.  According to Mr Mpala, the project will be running concurrently with the current Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) exercise.

“We have extended the national mobile registration exercise for national identity cards, birth certificates and death certificates with effect from December 1, 2017 to January 13, 2018,” said Mr Mpala.

“This exercise was supposed to end on November 30 this year, but because of the calls made by the general public demanding the documents, the Registrar-General’s Office found it ideal to extend the registration time to January next year. This is a very important exercise and we want to make sure that adequate resources will be availed to enable the department to reach every corner of Zimbabwe,” he said.

Issuance of the critical documents, according to the RG’s Office, will be conducted from same areas during weekdays.

“There have been reports of thousands of children and adults without birth certificates and national identity cards in most parts of the country. We are urging parents and guardians to take advantage of this exercise to obtain the documents free of charge,” he said.

Mr Mpala also urged traditional leaders to mobilise their people to get the necessary documents.

“Our community leaders should also hold meetings to explain the importance of the exercise, which will enable adult Zimbabweans to exercise their rights to vote next year,” he said.