BY NIZBERT MOYO ZIMBABWE’s statistical agency, ZimStat has begun preparations for the country’s fifth population census slated for August this year. The country conducts a population census every 10 years. The census has been brought forward to pave way for a delimitation exercise — which will assist in coming up with new constituencies ahead of the 2023 elections. In a statement yesterday, ZimStat director-general Taguma Mahonde said the statistical agency was undertaking a field mapping exercise as part of the census preparations. “The enumerators will be collecting the following information, name of head of household, number of persons in the household, number of males and females, agriculture status of the household, home address and contact details,’’ Mahonde said. “Enumerators will be moving from one household to the other and will be identified with government and COVID-19 essential services identity cards, together with any one of the following: branded hat or cap, T-shirt or worksuit.” The last population census conducted in 2012 put the country’s population at just over 13 million. Government gazetted the Census and Statistics Amendment Bill of 2020 in June, which seeks to amend the Census and Statistics Act (Chapter 10:29) to allow for the delimitation exercise to be conducted well before the 2023 polls. The Bill seeks to ensure that the delimitation exercise — creation of new electoral boundaries — is conducted using census statistics as required by section 161(1) of the Constitution and not the voters’ roll as has been the case. Follow Nizert on Twitter @N.M