N AT I O N A L I N Q U I R Y R E P O R T ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION For Human Dignity A total of one thousand four hundred (1,400) witnesses made up of eight hundred and fifty-four (854) females, five hundred and forty-four (544) males and two (2) intersex were invited to attend the Public Hearings. Out of this number, seven hundred and seventy-eight (778) witnesses gave oral evidence (four hundred and sixty (460) females, three hundred and sixteen (316) males and two (2) intersex) as shown in Table 7 below. The witnesses who gave oral evidence before the Commission were selected from the forms completed at the outreach meetings. In selecting witnesses to appear, due regard was given to the following criteria; ensuring the five documents were covered; gender; age; marginalised communities; disability; and geographical coverage. During the public hearings, additional evidence of what was contained in the written forms was adduced from the witnesses who gave elaborate testimony on their experiences as a result of probing by the Commissioners. Figure 6 below shows the number of witnesses who participated at Public Hearings. 221 169 121 69 60 150 147 93 100 106 80 98 68 145 89 48 112 131 115 56 Witnesses who were invited to Public Hearings Witnesses who gave Oral evidence at Public Hearings Figure 4 Number of witnesses participating at public hearings Stakeholders such as the DRG, Provincial and District Registrars, Provincial and District Social Welfare Officers, Provincial Education Officials, Traditional Leaders, school heads, prison officials, religious leaders, CSOs representatives and Councillors also submitted oral evidence before the Commission. The thrust of their testimony was to outline the access to documentation challenges affecting people in their areas of operation as well as expanding on their submissions in response to questions by the Commissioners. One key aspect of their testimony was to explain the legal procedures for the issuing of the different types of identity documentation constituting the subject matter of the National Inquiry. It should be noted that due to time constraints32, not all invited witnesses were able to give oral evidence before the Commission. Nevertheless, the evidence which they provided in their written submissions was captured in the database as outlined in this section. Furthermore, all persons with complaints who were invited to the public hearings had the opportunity to receive assistance and advice at help desks that were set up by the ZHRC, the DRG and the DSW at the venues of the 32 Initially 3 days per Province were allocated for all Public Hearings and this was the case in Masvingo, Bulawayo, Matabeleland South, Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland East Provinces. These were increased to 4 days for Matabeleland North, Midlands and Mashonaland West (4.5 days) Provinces and 5 days for Harare and Manicaland Provinces when it was noted that the allocated days were insufficient. It was still not possible to receive evidence from all the invited witnesses despite the increase in the number of days. 11 11