Deputy Minister in the Presidency Thembi Siweya has visited Diepsloot north of Johannesburg to encourage people to take part in this year’s Census.
She is accompanied by officials from Statistics South Africa (Stats SA).
This will be the fourth Census post-democracy that Stats SA will be undertaking in which all people within the country’s borders will be counted.
Statistics SA says it will give respondents the option to complete the census questionnaire with or without the assistance of a fieldworker.
It will further allow respondents to access the census questionnaire remotely, enabling Stats SA to reach people in all areas.
Stats SA says the reason for a housing and population census is to assist government in planning better. In that way, it is better able to provide for its citizens’ needs.
Enumerators will visit people in their homes where they will be asked numerous questions including those related to demographics, income, health, and employment status.
The Census will kick off on Thursday and will run until the 28th of February.
Siweya says the information from the Census will help government to plan better.
“The data that you give to Stats SA remains with them by law they are not going to give to the next person. They are going to use it and come back to us and say this is the number of people who live in South Africa. These ones are not going to school, and they should be in school. These ones are using this one clinic, meaning we need to build more clinics and hospitals. These ones do not have households we need to increase in terms of RDP houses.”
“We are encouraging our people to participate in the 2022 National Census which starts 3 Feb-28 Feb 2022.” -Presidency Deputy Minister, Ms @ThembiSiweya. Households who do not register, by 5 Feb, will be visited by a #StatSSA fieldworker to complete the questionnaire. #GetCounted pic.twitter.com/Pvplie2rH8
— Stats SA (@StatsSA) January 31, 2022
