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“We want honest and objective facts, the data which will help us.”
President Mugabe urged Zimbabweans to be productive, saying he was disappointed by the 2002 census figures that showed the deadly effects of the HIV and Aids pandemic.
“I am sorry to say, but the figures of the census of 2002 were disappointing to me, the numbers were down and maybe they have not increased very much,” he said.
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“The population (in 2002) had been decimated, decimated by the pandemic we all know, that of HIV and Aids.
“Perhaps we now need to establish whether the pandemic has the same effect of decimating our population or have we managed to control it in such a way that if it still affects us, we have managed to beat it with our death rate being lower than the birth rate.”
President Mugabe drew laughter from the audience when he said the reluctance by women to have many children was stagnating population growth.
“They now have two or three children when we had one mother producing 10 or 12 children, hanzi zvinouraya. Ko vanambuya havana kufa wani?” he said.
“We want more children, give us more children. You women, murikurambirei navo? Mimba idzodzo makapiirwei, nhumbu idzodzo, aiwa, aiwa, musanyime.”
President Mugabe said the census was an important event to gauge various development statistics.
“A population census is an important periodic exercise in the life of any nation, for it gives us the capacity to better gauge our needs, in order to successfully chart and navigate our forward movement,” he said.
“There is, therefore, no greater single source of information about a nation than that which a population census is able to yield.”
President Mugabe said the population census would provide important data for the implementation of such programmes like the Mid-Term Plan.
“The 2012 population census will provide data for some indicators on each of the eight internationally agreed Millennium Development Goals,” he said.
“Further, information so gathered enables better comparisons with other nations, in such areas as literacy rates, average life expectancy, mortality and living conditions.”
Also speaking at the launch, PM Tsvangirai said statistics were an important tool in providing data for current and future planning for national development.
“The population census is a rich source of information that can be used for confronting and strategising the challenges we face,” he said.
“It also provides benchmark data on population characteristics and living conditions which are important for planning.
“Further, it provides a base for conducting subsequent statistical investigations by providing the sample frame.”
The census will be conducted at a cost of US$40 million.
Government has provided the bigger portion of the money, with donors providing US$12,6 million.
Bickering among civil servants over the recruitment process affected the census, which saw the training of enumerators failing to kick off as expected.
The training started only after two days following the intervention of the Government.
The bulk of the enumerators are drawn from teachers, some of whom have the experience from previous censuses.
Zimbabwe holds a census after every 10 years, with the first in 1982 showing that the country had 7,6 million people.
There were 10,4 million people in 1992 and 11,6 million in 2002.
Online Reporter