Stats SA dismisses report of unreliable statistics

The Statistics Council of South Africa has dismissed a journalist's contention that a survey used by President Thabo Mbeki to show the government is winning the fight against poverty, is "unreliable and riddled with errors".

The state-funded survey was conducted at a cost of about R600 million. Council chairperson Howard Gabriel says the unreliable and riddled with errors tag is the view of the journalist and not of him self as chairperson of the Council and definitely not the Council. Gabriel says they have been intimately involved with the community survey since the planning stages in 2004, and have been satisfied all along the way that Statistics South Africa has taken great care to ensure sound scientific methodology for the survey.

Concerns have been raised about the reliability of the R600 million state-funded Statistics South Africa survey previously endorsed by President Thabo Mbeki, the Star newspaper reported today. The paper reported that the Statistics Council of SA said various irregularities in the survey made it questionable as to whether the survey could provide a "scientific basis" for future government policy.