Online Reporter
Shingirai Michelle Nyandoro
THERE was a time when an identity document (ID) did more than establish who a person was.
It could also tell the State where that person belonged.
In colonial Zimbabwe, registration and identification were not administered equally across racial lines.
Africans were subject to separate registration and identification requirements, including carrying passes that could determine where they could travel, live and work.
Europeans were not subjected to the same requirements.
Identification of Africans was, therefore, part of a wider system of administration and control.
Birth registration followed a similar racial divide. It was introduced in Rhodesia in 1891 for non-Africans — whites, Indians and coloureds — while Africans were excluded. By 1904, registration of births and deaths had become compulsory for the non-African population, giving them a formal record of vital events that Africans did not have on the same basis.
The distinction had consequences.
While the State was systematically recording the births of one section of the population, African families could go through life without the same official record of a person’s birth.
This could make it more difficult to establish identity through State records when proof was later required.
Births and deaths were instead often remembered through significant events such as droughts, epidemics and other natural phenomena.
Family trees and lineage information could similarly be distorted or lost when there were no official records to anchor them. It was only in 1963 that Africans were brought into the registration system, and even then, registration remained voluntary for them. The implications went beyond the absence of a piece of paper.
To be outside the formal registration system was also to be less visible in the official records through which the State recognised and accounted for its population. For Africans, identification carried another burden.
The documents they were required to carry could be used not only to establish who they were, but also to regulate where they could go, work or live. It is this history that gives the idea of identity a deeper meaning.
Identity was never simply a personal attribute. It was also shaped by whether the systems of the day recognised a person — and how they chose to recognise them.
Identity Day
That is why looking back matters as Zimbabwe recently joined the world in commemorating Identity Day on September 16.
This year’s theme, “My Identity, My Shadow. Never Apart”, captured the enduring nature of identity.
Like a shadow, it follows a person throughout life. It should not disappear because of where a person lives, their circumstances or the distance between them and the institutions that formally recognise them.
Identity Day is a global campaign that draws attention to the fundamental importance of having verifiable proof of identity and provides an opportunity to reflect on three fundamentals: inclusion, protection and empowerment. There is also meaning in the date itself. September is the ninth month of the year, while the day is the 16th — together forming 16.9, a deliberate reference to Sustainable Development Goal 16.9, which calls for legal identity for all, including birth registration, by 2030.
For Zimbabwe, that message carries particular weight. The country’s own history shows that recognition was not always experienced equally.
The journey since then has been about building a national registration system in which identity is no longer administered through the racial divisions of the past, but increasingly secured as a basis for citizenship, participation and access to services.
A system enters a new era
The National Registration Act of 1976 marked another stage in the development of Zimbabwe’s registration system. It provided a formal legal framework for registering people resident in Zimbabwe and issuing identity documents, while placing the administration of national registration under the Registrar-General.
Its significance, however, must be understood within the political circumstances of the time.
Enacted in 1976, at the height of the liberation struggle, the law came as the colonial authorities were grappling with a growing movement of young Africans joining the armed struggle.
The national registration framework, therefore, operated within a wider system through which the authorities sought to keep track of a population at a time of mounting political upheaval.
Shingirai Michelle Nyandoro is the communications and advocacy officer at the Civil Registry Department.
Read more on: www.heraldon line.co.zw
Independence in 1980 changed the national context in which that registration system operated.
Identification was no longer being administered within the colonial order of racial control.
Over time, it increasingly became a means through which citizens could establish who they were within their own nation.
More than the card
The national registration framework continued to develop, and so did the identity document.
For generations, Zimbabweans carried metal identity cards.
Over time, the document evolved, incorporating biometric features and stronger security features to strengthen the way identity is established and protected.
But the important change was not simply that the card itself changed.
The systems behind it changed, too.
Advances in technology have made it possible to strengthen identity systems, improve verification and enhance the security of the documents issued to citizens.
At the centre of this reform journey is the Civil Registry Department.
Its responsibility extends beyond issuing identity documents.
It maintains the national civil registration records through which people are formally recognised and provides the documents that establish identity at different stages of life.
And that identity does not begin at 16, when a young Zimbabwean becomes eligible for a national ID.
It begins much earlier.
Birth registration provides the first formal record of a child’s existence and establishes information that becomes important in proving identity later in life.
The Constitution recognises the right of Zimbabwean citizens to birth certificates and other IDs. Children have a constitutional right to the prompt provision of a birth certificate.
The Births and Deaths Registration Act provides for the registration of a child within 42 days of birth.
The national ID, therefore, is not an isolated piece of identification.
It is part of a chain of recognition that begins with the recording of a person’s birth and continues through the different stages of life.
But a registration system can only serve its purpose if it is accessible to the people who need it.
For someone living in a remote community, distance, difficult terrain and transport costs can turn access to vital registration documents into a considerable — and sometimes insurmountable — hurdle.
This is why bringing registration services closer to communities has become an important part of Zimbabwe’s identity journey.
The Civil Registry Department has expanded its reach by decentralising services countrywide to all 10 provinces, 63 districts and 209 sub-offices.
To complement this network, the department has also gone beyond its office walls, taking registration services to hard-to-reach communities.
In 2026 alone, 27 targeted mobile registration exercises have been conducted, bringing vital civil registration services closer to people who might otherwise struggle to access them.
When registration services are taken to communities that have struggled to access them, the State is not merely moving an office closer.
It is removing one of the barriers between a person and formal recognition.
This gives practical meaning to the Second Republic’s commitment to leaving no one and no place behind, while supporting the broader drive towards inclusive, people-centred service delivery.
The work is also being supported by strengthening the systems behind registration.
Computerisation and digitalisation of registry offices are helping to improve service delivery, while stronger systems contribute to the integrity and security of the records on which identity depends.
These efforts give practical meaning to Identity Day’s call for inclusion by helping ensure that access to identity is not limited by distance or location.
Identity that leaves no one behind
Inclusion means that people should not remain outside the registration system simply because they live far from a registry office or face circumstances that make access difficult.
Protection means that the identity established must be secure and trusted.
Empowerment means that recognised identity gives people the ability to establish who they are and participate more fully in society.
These are not abstract ideas.
They are reflected in the everyday work of the Civil Registry Department.
Zimbabwe has travelled a considerable distance.
There was a time when identity could determine where a person belonged.
Today, the challenge is to ensure that identity belongs with the person — wherever they live, whatever their circumstances and throughout their life.
Like a shadow, it should never leave them.
Shingirai Michelle Nyandoro is the communications and advocacy officer at the Civil Registry Department.
