Ramaphosa applauds Stats SA’s 'exceptional' Census 2022 results

President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on government departments, policymakers, researchers, civil society and international organisations to use the Census 2022 report to collectively strive to improve service delivery.

Speaking during the Census 2022 results report handover ceremony at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Tuesday, Ramaphosa said data contained in a census is one of the most crucial planning, monitoring and evaluation tools for governments. 

“It informs the planning, budgeting and policy-making work of government at the most fundamental level. We have long said that one of our priorities in building a capable, ethical, developmental state is to ensure that policymaking is evidence-driven. 

“Policymaking that is not informed by accurate data can result in inefficiency in the allocation of resources, underestimation of the needs of citizens, poorly planned programmes and poor financial management,” he said. 

The 2022 Census is the fourth population and housing count conducted in postapartheid South Africa since 1996. 

Statistician-general Risenga Maluleke revealed that the population of South Africa increased from 51,7-million in 2011 to more than 62-million in 2022.

Females constituted 51.5% of the total population, while 48.5% were males.

Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal remain the provinces with the most people — 15-million and 12.4-million respectively — while the Northern Cape has the fewest at 1.3-million.

Black Africans remain the dominant population group at 81.4%, followed by coloureds at 8.2%. Whites declined to 7.3% in 2022 from 8.9% in 2011, while Indians/Asians increased slightly from 2.5% in 2011 to 2.7% in 2022. 

 Ramaphosa applauded the effort that went into compiling the report, whose enumerators first began their tests in 2018 and were disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

They also endured local government elections, the July 2021 unrest in two of the biggest provinces and floods. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Stats SA adapted quickly and efficiently, he said. 

“Having decided in 2018 to develop multiple data-collection methods, including computer-assisted telephonic interviews and online self-enumeration options, Stats SA introduced complete digitisation of the entire census process.”

He said South Africans had become accustomed to the digital era and so Stats SA was able to complete the census just four months after the initial date of October 2021. 

He said adapting to the fluid situation on the ground meant that data collection processes had to be rapidly modernised. 

Ramaphosa said he thought the vaccination process was the biggest undertaking that SA had ever gone through, but he says he was wrong because the Census was the largest, all-encompassing process. 

“As a result, this is South Africa’s first-ever digital census, compiled from data collected from everyone within the borders of the country. A census is one of the most complex exercises a nation can undertake. 

“It involves years of preparation and planning and you kept saying you needed more money. Now we understand why you needed more money. It is a tough task for enumerators, who have to traverse the country counting people in households, hospitals, prisons and other institutions, even the homeless and people in transit at our borders.” 

Ramaphosa said a census involved collating, aggregating and publishing complex demographic, health, economic and sociological data sets. 

“There will be doubters, there will be those who will want to doubt your information and the methods through which you went and they will also ask you questions and only you as the statistician-general is the owner of statistics information in the country.” 

Ramaphosa said Stats SA must be commended for placing “an absolute premium” on the credibility and integrity of the data and adhering to the highest international best practice. 

“It is important that South Africans have the utmost confidence in the numbers that have been presented today and they should also welcome the statement by the statistics council on the results.” 

If the government is not able to see the bigger picture, it will not be able to forecast, he said.

“Census 2022 gives us the information we need to implement government’s programme of action in a targeted, evidence-driven manner.” 

He said despite load-shedding, which the government is urgently addressing, the country should be encouraged by the almost universal access to electricity.

“The results that have been presented here today underscore the urgency with which we must work towards meeting the aspirations of the National Development Plan and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”

He said the statistics would be an invaluable tool in meeting those challenges. 

TimesLIVE