The Sunday Mail
Sunday Mail Reporter
The mobile registration drive ended on Friday, with over three million civic documents having been issued.
The figure is one million more than the planned target.
The exercise, which was meant to clear the backlog that arose over the period of Covid-19-induced lockdowns and restrictions, began on April 1.
In a statement released yesterday, the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage said 1 300 573 national identification cards, 1 758 322 birth certificates and 44 590 death certificates were issued across the country during the six-month-long programme.
“The Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, through the Civil Registry Department, wishes to inform the nation that the national mobile registration exercise, which commenced on April 1, 2022, ended on September 30, 2022,” said Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Permanent Secretary Mr Aaron Nhepera.
“The ministry had anticipated issuing two million documents by the end of the programme. We are pleased to inform the nation that as of September 22, 2022, a total of 3 103 485 documents were issued, surpassing the planned target.”
Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) chairperson, Mr Elasto Mugwadi, told The Sunday Mail that the commission applauds Government’s efforts in ensuring that no one is left stateless by 2023.
“As ZHRC, we have been advocating this. A lot of people have been facing challenges in getting national ID cards and birth certificates. There are many people who were stateless because of failure to access these critical documents. As such, we thank President Mnangagwa for implementing this programme. It should be understood that access to these documents is a human right,” he said.
Chapter 3 of Zimbabwe’s Constitution declares that passports, birth certificates and other travel documents and identity documents are rights and benefits that have to be enjoyed by all citizens. Chapter 14 of the Constitution further provides for devolution of power.
Writing in his weekly column in this publication in August,
President Mnangagwa said: “I am now happy that access to birth certificates and national identity cards has vastly improved, with many who had lived in the twilight zone of citizenship feeling they now belong and are empowered.”
