Mnangagwa orders relaxation of ID requirements

THE Civil Registry Department will from Friday embark on a mobile registration exercise targeting at issuing more than two million birth, death certificates and national identity documents across the country.

The exercise will run until 30 September. Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe said although figures show that the national backlog for the documents was sitting at under one million, the Government was aware that there were some people that have not bothered to even acquire the documents due to prohibitive requirements.

"The Civil Registry Department will be embarking on a nationwide mobile registration exercise from 1 April to 30 September.

The exercise will mainly focus on the issuance of births and deaths certificates and national identity documents. In addition to mobile teams, all static registration offices will remain operational during this period," he said.

Minister Kazembe said preparatory work has started and staff was being trained after Treasury approved the budget for the registration exercise.

"The President has always said no one should be left behind. We are going to ensure that we cover each and every part of this country.

We had our backlog sitting at around one million but we know probably there are some people who have not even attempted to apply for these documents. We are targeting at least two million, more than double the number that we know," he said.

Minister Kazembe said President Mnangagwa has ordered the relaxation of requirements to get national documents to ensure that citizens benefit from the mobile exercise.

"We have also been asked by the President that ‘please make it as easy as possible for Zimbabweans to get their IDs because they are Zimbabweans', so in that regard, we had a meeting a couple of weeks back with the provincial registrars to discuss the challenges that they were facing or the challenges that people were facing in as far as the required documents or information that is required."

Minister Kazembe said provinces have discussed some of the impediments that people were facing in acquiring the documents. The Civil Registry Department will embark on an awareness campaign notifying people about the requirements, he said.

"I can promise that they won't be prohibitive as directed by the President. I therefore, urge all members of the public to take advantage of this opportunity to be fully registered."

The exercise is also set to benefit thousands of people in the Matabeleland region who have complained that they were failing to get the documents.

In January, Chiefs in the region indicated that they have started compiling a database of community members who have no IDs as part of efforts to address challenges that were rooted in post-independence disturbances.

This was after President Mnangagwa mandated traditional leaders to take a leading role in addressing the problems that were caused by Gukurahundi.

Families that were affected by the Gukurahundi episode had been complaining that they were failing to acquire the necessary documents since in some cases their parents died.