12 October 2010
Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) has launched a dress rehearsal for Census 2011, calling on all South Africans to get ready to participate in the third national population count since the advent of democracy in the country in 1994.
Stats SA will deploy 120 000 officials across the country from 10 to 31 October 2011 to document South Africa’s entire population, including homeless people and illegal immigrants.
As part of its preparations for the census, Stats SA is conducting a countrywide “dress rehearsal” between 10 and 31 October 2010.
Census 2011 – the last census was conducted in 2001 – will consist of three questionnaires: one for households, one for institutions, and one for people in transit.
“We will ask you about your access to services such as water, electricity and sanitation,” Statistician-General Pali Lehohla said at the launch of the dress rehearsal in Pretoria on Sunday.
“Out of this arsenal of information we will know whether South Africa is making progress or not. We will also know what needs to be done.”
Lehohla said that while South Africa had security issues, people would be able to recognise Stats SA’s enumerators by their yellow bibs, and check their legitimacy via identity cards with photos and identification numbers to which the public would have access.
The enumerators will be required to hold a matric certificate, and will be appointed in their communities to cover over 14-million households, Stats SA project director Calvin Molongoana said on Saturday.
The estimated budget for the census R1.2-billion, which will cover the cost of the enumerators, the overall logistics, as well as 3 200 training areas for staff and data processing.
Stats SA’s deputy director-general for population and social statistics, Kefiloe Masiteng, said the census was something the nation could be proud of.
Planning Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel, speaking via a pre-recorded video message at the launch, encouraged all South Africans to participate in the census.
“We need to know what we’ve achieved,” Manuel said. “We need to know all issues to take decisions about people’s lives. Every person in South Africa counts.”
The results of Census 2011 are expected to be released in March 2013.
Source: BuaNews
