The Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT) has clarified on the population figures in Matobo ward 20 which stated the area has 85 males and no females, raising a furore among stakeholders with some dismissing the 2022 census report as bogus.
In a statement, clarifying the figures, the statistics agency said the area is a grazing land with no permanent residents.
“Residents from neighbouring communal areas practise partial nomadic life. When feed for their animals diminishes in their usual areas of habitation, some locals take their animals to ward 20 for grazing. They put up temporary structures as shelter. They will reside in this area for months and then go back to their usual places of residence when summer sets in,” said Mercy Chidemo, the Public Relations and Communications Manager.
Chidemo said on census night “they accounted for 85 males who spent the census night, 20′ April 2022, in these temporary structures in ward 20 of Matobo area”.
“These figures are comparable to what was accounted for in the 2012 census, when our enumerators accounted for 15 females and 49 males giving a total of 64 for the ward.”
Various stakeholders have disputed the census figures claiming that the population figures for some areas were being suppressed as part of an elaborate ploy to underfund those areas.
According to the report, Zimbabwe’s population grew by 16.2 percent from 13,061,239 in 2012 to 15,178,979 in 2022 with an annual growth rate of 1.5 percent.
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