CLAIM: Matobo District Ward 20 has a population of 85 and no females, in 60 households.
SOURCE: Population Census Preliminary Report
VERDICT: True
Zimbabwe Statistics (ZimStats) on July 26, 2022 released it’s preliminary report on the 2022 Census results.
Readers picked up on one glaring figure and it went viral with the majority of Zimbabweans sharing their disbelief and general dissatisfaction and mistrust of the whole document as a result of that one figure.
Under the Matabeleland South Province, in Matobo District’s ward 20, the results show that there are only 85 people in that ward and these are all male, residing in 60 households.
How is that possible?
After this figure went viral, FactCheckZW looked into the figures.
To cross check, FactCheckZW looked at the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission figures of 2018. The questions to answer were: who is the councillor for this ward and what are its polling stations?
Matobo District’s Ward 20 has neither a councillor nor polling stations. It has no registered voter. It has neither school nor clinic.
According to the Food Poverty Atlas, which has since been discontinued, in 2016 Ward 20 had a population of 60 in 23 households.
Oral History
A resident of neighbouring Gwanda district in ward 19 (Kafusi) which borders Matobo’s Ward 20, Ms Rethabile Dengu, says the area has historically and traditionally been grazing land.
“The area is what we call in SeSotho ‘mraka’. People send their cattle there from as far as Gungwe (about 30km away) during the dry season for water sources. There are no real homesteads there, only structures meant for the herdboys. There are no women or children.
“We may visit to give the boys extra food or to check on them but no women or children stay there,” she explained.
Conclusion: Although the figure was met with disbelief and mistrust, it is true that Ward 20 in Matobo District has a population of 85 and no females, as stated in the 2022 population census preliminary report
