Tinashe Sambiri|Community Tolerance Reconciliation and Development( COTRAD) has expessed concerns about the snail-slow pace at which the registrar’s department is issuing national identity cards.

In a statement, COTRAD described the process of obtaining identity documents as dreadful.

Analysts say government is deliberately sabotaging the issuance of identity documents to prevent young people from registering to vote.

See COTRAD’s presentation below:

Securing national identity documents has become a dreadful experience for youth in Masvingo.

Securing national identity cards has become a horrendous experience for young people in Masvingo. This comes after the Registrar General’s office recently introduced the booking system. Through the system, and in order to be issued with a national identity card, one has to book for a future date. The information gathered by Community Tolerance Reconciliation and Development (COTRAD) currently shows that the Masvingo Registrar General’s office is already booking for March 2022 since February is fully booked.

The COVID 19 pandemic and the lockdowns resulted in disruptions in the issuance of national identity cards. The interruption increased pressure on the already overwhelmed Registrar General’s office following the uplifting of lockdown restrictions. Currently at Masvingo Registrar General’s office only 50 people are being issued with national identity cards per day and this implies that only 250 people are issued with national identity cards per week. However, the numbers are very low considering the population which requires the national identity cards.

COTRAD calls upon the Registrar General’s office to ensure easy access to national identity cards. Section 35 (3) (c) of the national constitution states that all Zimbabwean citizens have a right to identity documents issued by state. Booking system negatively impacts upon young people. The system implies that more trips to and from the Registrar General’s office are now a prerequisite for one to be issued with a national identity card. The first trip occurs during the booking and the second trip occurs during the issuance of the national identity cards.

This has resulted in more people crowding at the Registrar General’s office for the booking and the issuance of the national identity cards. The booking system is more consuming in terms of travelling costs to and from the Registrar General’s office. It is again time consuming in terms of time to book and time to be spent when being issued with the national identity cards. This comes at a time Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is conducting the mobile voter registration exercises in light of the impending 2023 general elections. This has resulted in very few young people registering to vote in Masvingo.