THE Zimbabwe Election Support Network (Zesn) has described as shocking some of the questions being asked by Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStats) enumerators.
The country is currently undertaking the 2022 population
and housing census which will run up to tomorrow.
Citizens have been complaining that they are being asked
strange questions by census enumerators such as the type of floor polish they
use, their fertility status and other questions which they believe are
irrelevant.
Speaking during a virtual discussion on enhancing women’s
capacities to take up political positions, a Zesn official Prisca Dube said:
“The enumerators are asking questions about relatives in the diaspora and what
they are doing there — their jobs. Civil
society organisations never went to ZimStats to learn about the nature of
questions that people will be asked in order to educate them. The census
questions have many other variables besides being counted. People are saying
questions about whether someone had a still-born baby are shocking.”
ZimStats public relations officer Roland Chiriga, however,
defended the questions, saying they were necessary.
“Questions about the type of floor polish used show how
advanced the country is as they pertain to the type of flooring used. All
responses then show us whether we are a developed country (or not). Questions
about one’s fertility are not weird as we want to know about the growth rate of
the population, and whether we have more births than deaths in the country.
This helps the Registrar-General’s Office to know the number of birth and death
certificates needed,” Chiringa said. Newsday
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