Dear Editor
In a briefing to the Standing Committee on Premier and Constitutional Matters yesterday, StatsSA revealed that 97% of dwelling units in assigned areas were covered during the Census data collection period in the Western Cape. 86% of data collected came from in-field collection whilst 11% came from online collection.
It was further revealed that 82% of Census questionnaires in the province have been completed whilst 15% are still in progress or partially completed. StatsSA expects to release the data in the second quarter of next year.
StatsSA’s data collection process in the Western Cape was wrought with challenges which resulted in the collection deadline being extended from 30 April to 31 May due to fears of undercounting in the province. Undercounting would have been disastrous for the province, with the Provincial Treasury estimating that the Western Cape could have lost billions of rands in budgetary funding.
The StatsSA delegation also admitted that the R200 million allocated to them from National Treasury for publicity was simply not enough. The delegation thanked the Western Cape Provincial Government for its cooperation in assisting with a much more effective publicity campaign and facilitating cooperation between StatsSA, local governments and communities.
StatsSA is currently in the Post Enumeration Survey Data Collection process which is to verify their count of households in the province.
The DA in Western Cape looks forward to the release of the Census results next year. The data emanating from the Census is crucial in assisting governments to plan and provide critical services such as education, healthcare and infrastructure.
Regards
Christopher Fry, MPP
DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Premier and Constitutional Matters
