Additional help needed as census drags in province

A NUMBER of StatsSA field workers from other provinces have been deployed to the Western Cape to assist with the collection of data for the 2022 census.

According to StatsSA, those counted in the Western Cape stand at approximately 55.5%, while the average national figure stands at 87%.

Stats SA last week announced it would reopen the online selfenumeration system until the end of April, saying data collection challenges, particularly in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, which was heavily impacted by the recent extreme weather conditions, led to the decision to extend the census mop-up period to the end of the month.

StatsSA chief director, Patrick Kelly, said the department struggled to recruit staff in a number of areas in the province, including urban areas.

“There are other challenges as well in the Western Cape. We are struggling to get people to reply to the questionnaire, I might call it a refusal.

“The other (issue) is the struggle to reach people in places like a complex or flats where you can not get into the property and you try and negotiate access, which is quite often challenging. You would also get into areas where both the members of the household are working. Perhaps that area has mainly younger people who will be working during the day and you have to get them in the evening, which is a limited time,” said Kelly.

He added the department was looking at different options to extend the deadline for collecting data in the province.

“We are trying to get as many people to count as possible. We will make a public announcement in relation to that. In KwaZulu-Natal we had to suspend the counting for a few days because of flooding, but it continued last week. In Gauteng they finished yesterday,” he said.

Premier Alan Winde said if an accurate census count for the province was not done, they may have fewer resources available to deliver services in the future, which could impact residents.

“The Western Cape is lagging far, far behind the rest of the country in the 2022 census count.

“This is especially concerning given that we have just days left until the extended count comes to an end,” said Winde.