How inaccurate Census 2022 data from Stats SA is affecting towns & cities
In July this year, Stats SA dismissed the Centre for Actuarial Research’s claim that Census 2022 figures should be treated as estimates due to undercounting issues.
FILE: Stats SA fieldworkers got the Census 2022 count under way at the Cape Town International Airport on 2 February 2022. Picture: Kaylynn Palm/Eyewitness News
Stephen Grootes speaks to Alan Winde, Premier of the Western Cape.
Listen to the interview in the audio player below.
Information gathered during the Census is used by government, in particular National Treasury, to determine budget and resource allocation.
It is therefore vital that as many people are counted, and the correct information captured to ascertain what exactly money should be spent on, and how much.
But in July this year, Stats SA dismissed the Centre for Actuarial Research’s claim that Census 2022 figures should be treated as estimates due to undercounting issues.
Despite Stats SA defending its work, the Western Cape is said to have been seriously undercounted during the process which ran from February to May 2022.
Speaking to Western Cape Premier, Alan Winde says undercounting will result in an incorrect budget being allocated to the province.
"There's a problem with it and we've got to find a way to use other numbers to verify so we could get to our exact numbers."
- Alan Winde, Premier - Western Cape
"Our province is still showing immense pressure on education and health, and you can feel that our numbers are out of proportion. And we haven't had a correction to our budget since the 2013/14 financial year from the 2011 census."
- Alan Winde, Premier - Western Cape
"The last time that we had a correction was in the 2013/14 financial year, which gave us a 0,5% increase, so it took us to equitable share of 10%. That gave us another R3,5bn to our budget."
- Alan Winde, Premier - Western Cape
Scroll to the top to listen to the full interview.