News / National
Police disrupt training of census enumerators
07 Aug 2012 at 13:34hrs | Views
Zimstat has suspended the training of population census enumerators throughout the country following disruptions at some training centres by police anti-riot squad.
When census enumerators gathered at some centres Tuesday morning to start training after registration, they were ordered to disperse by police.
The census co-ordinators, supervisors as well as registered enumerators who were ordered to disperse with police claiming the training is an illegal gathering complied and left the centres throwing the whole process into turmoil.
In an interview, Director Population Census and Surveys Washington Mapeta confirmed the development and expressed disappointment that the disturbances caused by the police will have a bearing on the number of days people will be trained.
He said it might also affect the quality of information that will come out of the census.
Population Census Harare Provincial Co-ordinator Elizabeth Banda Karinda said it is sad that such disturbances happened at a crucial and last stage of census training but expressed hope that responsible authorities will look into the issue as a matter of urgency.
Reports in some private media have been claiming that uniformed security forces have hijacked the census process.
Acting Finance Minister Gorden Moyo however said the country's security forces have always been involved in national census programmes.
Moyo was speaking at a media briefing where he told journalists that historically security forces have always had a role to play in the country's national census.
He revealed that the country's security forces are involved in the process as they work with other ministries for a smooth running of the programme.
"The security forces have always had a role to play in the country's census. They also have a limited role in enumerating in their own cantonments," he said.
The minister's sentiments have poured cold water on private media reports and unfounded speculations claiming security forces have hijacked the census process.
When census enumerators gathered at some centres Tuesday morning to start training after registration, they were ordered to disperse by police.
The census co-ordinators, supervisors as well as registered enumerators who were ordered to disperse with police claiming the training is an illegal gathering complied and left the centres throwing the whole process into turmoil.
In an interview, Director Population Census and Surveys Washington Mapeta confirmed the development and expressed disappointment that the disturbances caused by the police will have a bearing on the number of days people will be trained.
He said it might also affect the quality of information that will come out of the census.
Population Census Harare Provincial Co-ordinator Elizabeth Banda Karinda said it is sad that such disturbances happened at a crucial and last stage of census training but expressed hope that responsible authorities will look into the issue as a matter of urgency.
Acting Finance Minister Gorden Moyo however said the country's security forces have always been involved in national census programmes.
Moyo was speaking at a media briefing where he told journalists that historically security forces have always had a role to play in the country's national census.
He revealed that the country's security forces are involved in the process as they work with other ministries for a smooth running of the programme.
"The security forces have always had a role to play in the country's census. They also have a limited role in enumerating in their own cantonments," he said.
The minister's sentiments have poured cold water on private media reports and unfounded speculations claiming security forces have hijacked the census process.
Source - zbc
