By Alois Vinga 

THE Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT) has commenced its 2022 Population and Housing Census post-Enumeration Survey (PES) training of enumerators despite not having paid enumerators who participated in the main 2022 census.

A PES is carried out immediately after a population census in order to establish the magnitude of census coverage and content errors.

The 2022 PES will collect information on persons who were enumerated and those not enumerated during the 2022 Population and Housing Census (PHC) and if executed diligently and efficiently.

ZIMSTAT director general, Taguma Mahonde, officially launched the PES training of enumerators exercise last weekend, where he urged enumerators to diligently deliver and exhibit self-discipline by refraining from all activities that may affect participation in the training and survey.

“Remember that the government has entrusted us with the mandate to collect and supply high quality and usable data. Therefore, for the next four days we are expected to focus on the training exercise in preparation for PES data collection.

“Finally, distinguished participants, allow me to express my sincere gratitude to the Government of Zimbabwe and development partners for the financial and technical support rendered to ZIMSTAT to undertake this survey,” he said.

However, the remarks come at a time when thousands of enumerators who participated in the first exercise, which ended three months ago, are yet to be paid.

“I only received payment for five out of the ten days of training I attended. I have not yet received a penny for the work I did. What hurts the most is that there has not been any communication as to when I will be paid what I am owed.

“This is so heartbreaking, considering that such a reputable institution is handling us this way,” a source who preferred anonymity said.

Contacted for comment, ZIMSTAT spokesperson, Mercy Chidemo did not respond to questions texted to her mobile and was not picking phone calls.