Collection issues
Originally Stats SA indented to implement the census exactly ten years after the 2011 census on 10 October 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa caused repeated delays in planning and logistics of the census resulting in the census date being pushed back to 2 February 2022 with all data being collected by the end of that month. Due to additional logistical and implementation issues, complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the completion date was initially pushed back to 20 March, then 30 April for the whole country. An additional extension was made for the Western Cape. [9]
After the publication of the census results it was reported that the under-count rate was 31% [10] for the population as a whole but as high as 72% for Indian South Africans and 62% for White South Africans. [11] The under-count rate being the highest in the Western Cape province. [7]
The high under-count rate was reported as an issue of concern as it raised questions about the accuracy of the number of White, Indian, foreign-born and homeless people recorded in the census. [10] [12] In August 2024 STATS SA announced that due to reporting anomalies it would not be releasing key data such as figures on mortality, fertility, employment and household income. [13]
These issues caused the South African academics, Professor Tom Moultrie and Emeritus Professor Rob Dorrington, to state that the statistics were likely not accurate enough for official use. [12] [14] Despite these criticisms, most notably the under-counting problem, STATS SA rejected calls from academia and other researchers for a recount and instead stated that the results were credible. [13]
The Western Cape
The census taking period was extended in the Western Cape province to 14 May 2022 after it was announced that only 58% of the province's population had participated in it by late April that year; [15] whilst around 80% of the country's whole population had been surveyed by the same date. [15] The deadline was extended a second time in the Western Cape to 31 May as only 78% of the province's population had been counted by the end of the first extension period. [16]
The issue of under-counting in the Western Cape Province was a serious issue of concern for the Western Cape Provincial government as it might result in fewer resources being allocated to the province by national government on a per-capita basis relative to the rest of the country. [15]
Stats SA reported particular difficulty in getting an accurate census count of both White and Coloured residents which accounted for the low census participation rate in the Western Cape province. [17] In the Western Cape census workers reported difficulty in contacting households with high walls - thereby preventing many surveys from being conducted - whilst other households refused to participate in the census. [18] Other problems encountered by Stats SA in the province included not being able to hire enough census workers or being able to secure enough vehicles. [18]
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