National census kicks off in South Africa

Pali Lehohla, South Africa’s Statistician General

National census kicks off in South Africa
Funke Atohengbe, Pretoria

More than one hundred and thirty thousand enumerators have taken to the streets of South Africa to count the country’s population.

They will be visiting more than 14million households across the country.

South Africa’s Statistician General, Pali Lehohla said the exercise began ‘with high spirits’ after the country's third census since the enthronement of democracy kicked off at midnight on Monday.

The Statistician General said although they encountered some problems on the first day such as late arrival of stationery, those problems would be overcome with time.

Those to be counted

Babies, the homeless, foreigners and natural citizens are to be counted with the homeless, truck drivers and those staying in hotels being counted first.

People being enumerated will be expected to answer all 75 questions in the questionnaire which is expected to take 45 minutes to complete.

The questionnaire will be available in the country's 11 official languages and additionally in French and Portuguese.

Mr Lehohla called on South Africans to open their doors to enumerators and be counted. 

Significance of the exercise

The chief statistician explained the importance of census:

"We will ask you about your access to services such as water, electricity and sanitation. Out of this arsenal of information we will know whether South Africa is making progress or not. We will also know what needs to be done"

The census will consist of three questionnaires namely one for households, the other for institutions and the third for people in transit.

Security

Mr Lehohla said members of the South African Police had been deployed to provide security during the Census.

"I would like to appeal to the police to monitor Census 2011 cars and to secure public confidence in census around issues of security", said Lehohla.

He said the enumerators could be identified by their yellow bibs and caps and identity cards. As part of additional security measures fieldworkers will have to carry an identity card hologram-protected photograph depicting the enumerator.

To check on the validity of enumerators, people will be able to contact Stats SA's toll-free number on 0800 110 248.

Lehohla warned that those who restrict statisticians from doing their work would face a six-month jail term or a 10 000 Rand fine or both.

Current population figures

According to the mid-2011 estimates from Statistics South Africa, the country's population stands at 50.5-million, up from the census 2001 count of 44.8-million.

Africans are in the majority, making up 79.5% of the population, while white people and coloured people each make up 9.0% and the Indian/Asian population 2.5%.

The results of Census 2011 which will run from 10 -31 October, and estimated to cost the country 3 billion Rand to execute, are expected in November 2012.

Additional reports: Buanews/Ekata