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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Reporter
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has brought relief to Zimbabweans who have been struggling to acquire crucial documents like birth certificates after he directed that parental proof is not a requirement in the ongoing blitz.

Previously, to acquire a birth certificate, one needed to provide proof of parentage — the identity and origins of one’s parents.

The proof could be in the form of an affidavit from traditional leaders, a requirement that urban dwellers were sometimes failing to meet.

Some unscrupulous Registry officials were also taking advantage of desperate document seekers or guardians of children to demand bribes.

Those with children born outside Zimbabwe, like in South Africa, faced an uphill task to acquire the documents.

This affected mainly children from Matabeleland region whose parents work in South Africa.

Responding to a question in Parliament raised by Binga North MP, Mr Prince Dubeko Sibanda who raised concerns on the process and procedures of taking birth certificates and national identity documents which included among other requirements, proof of parentage, the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Ziyambi Ziyambi said parental proof was no longer a requirement as per President Mnangagwa’s directive.

Mr Sibanda made the inquiry against the backdrop of a nationwide mobile registration exercise by the Civil Registry Department that kicked off on April 1 and will run until September 30.

Minister Ziyambi said President Mnangagwa during a Cabinet meeting, directed that everyone without a national identity document must be given one

“His Excellency went to Tsholotsho some time, he sent the Minister of Local Government to the San Community and they faced more or less the same problems. After that, a discussion was done in Cabinet and His Excellency directed that everyone without a national identity document must be given one. So, there is no problem, everyone, you can take anyone to the Registrar-General’s Office and give them the surname Biti, Biti, Biti, it is now allowed, the President has allowed it,” said Minister Ziyambi.

In Bulawayo, the national registration exercise is being conducted at 137 venues throughout the city’s 29 Wards. Today the team will be at Macdonald Hall in Mzilikazi suburb.