A total of 40 000 enumerators and 7 000 supervisors
underwent training over the past fortnight for the exercise which will run
until April 30.
Frustrated enumerators yesterday told NewsDay that they
have not been paid the allowances, adding that many of them did not have money
to travel to their bases.
They also said they used their own money during training
with the hope that they would be paid soon after.
“We finished training two weeks ago and they promised to
deposit the money within three days. They have not been forthcoming,” an
enumerator said.
The allowances were pegged in United States dollars, but
will be paid in local currency at the current auction rate.
ZimStats spokesperson Mercy Chidemo yesterday confirmed
that the enumerators had not yet received their allowances but blamed the delay
on the Easter holiday.
“The money was transferred, but there were delays in
payments because the banks were closed during the holidays. If they check their
accounts by the end of today, the money should be reflecting,” Chidemo said.
Educators Union of Zimbabwe secretary-general Tapedza Zhou
accused ZimStats of dishonesty, saying the payments should have been made a
week ago.
“ZimStats cannot blame Easter holidays for delays in paying
its enumerators because those holidays did not suddenly appear last week. It is
either poor planning on the part of ZimStats or it is taking a lackadaisical
approach to the agreed terms of the contract between itself and its workforce,
mostly dominated by teachers. We demand that ZimStats immediately adhere to
agreed terms of contract because these enumerators should have been paid long
before the same holidays,” Zhou said.
Educationist Tafadzwa Munodawafa said: “For a long time
now, the government has been fostering a system where civil servants are
expected to perform national duties for free and no one wants to take
responsibility and show seriousness in matters of such national processes with
such big
impact.”
He said ZimStats should not put an important process like
the national census in jeopardy by abusing teachers and other civil servants
seconded to perform its duties.
“We implore ZimStats to act sincerely and responsibly on
behalf of the nation of Zimbabwe.”
Preparations for the 2022 national census have been riddled
with several other problems.
A total of 221 enumerators were forced to travel an
estimated 380km in search of accommodation for training after failing to secure
accommodation in Karoi district.
Some trainees from Kariba rural under Chiefs Mola, Negande
and Musambakaruma, among others, had to travel to Chinhoyi for boarding
facilities for the training — a distance of about 380km.
Zanu PF youths have also allegedly been hired as
enumerators for the census, raising fears that the party may tamper with
figures ahead of the delimitation exercise as the country heads to the 2023
polls.
Government recently announced that 20% of the enumerators
will be youths while 80% will be civil servants, including members of the
police force and army. Newsday
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