What really lies below the Census 2022 figures?

Stats SA could finally pat themselves on the back for putting out the results of what initially seemed like a problem-riddled census that had to be conducted amid the Covid pandemic.

What the results reveal is another matter, though, and any perceived improvements in the quality of life for South Africans since the last census was conducted in 2011 need to be taken with a pinch of salt. The census reveals as much as it hides.

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For instance, the census reveals that up to 90% of children under the age of 16 attend school. This should have the ruling ANC beaming with pride because it would literally mean that at some point in the future South Africa can boast an adult literacy level of up to 90%. Although the figure drops to 60% by the age of 18, it would still be impressive.

But these census results need to be triangulated with other studies to find out what really lies below the Stats SA figures.

In May this year, the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study revealed that up to 81% of Grade 4 children in South Africa cannot read for meaning. That 90% suddenly doesn’t look as glossy and the ruling party should hang its head in shame.

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It was business author and professor Aaron Levenstein who suggested that “Statistics are like bikinis. “What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.”

The last census reported that only 60% of South African households had flushing toilets. That figure has now risen to 70% and this should be cause for celebration. But is it?

The same 2022 census reports that up to a million households depend on water tankers for their daily water supply. Basically, life has improved so much that families can afford flushing toilets and piped water, but the presence of water in those pipes is not guaranteed.

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The oft-repeated defence by those in the ruling party that the inequalities that are clearly glaring from the census cannot be fixed in 30 years when they took 400 years to create, should be something that the whole country starts rejecting en masse.

For a country with a life expectancy of about 65 years, the ruling party is suggesting that the inequalities cannot be fixed in half an individual’s lifespan.

There is no expectation by South Africans that Soweto, Tembisa or Kwa-Mashu will suddenly become a Sandton, Zimbali or Camps Bay, but there is an expectation that potholes will be fixed at the same rate, water supply or availability will be the same and that a child from Mdantsane will stand exactly the same chance in life of completing a tertiary qualification as a child from Waterkloof. That cannot take a lifetime to fix.

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Ahead of the 2024 election, the ruling party will be at pains to remind citizens that in 1996, only 58% of the country used electricity for lighting and that figure now stands at a staggering 95%. Hooray! Or maybe not.

In 1996, electricity availability was almost 100% for those that had access. At the height of the current electricity blackouts, electricity is only available for just half a day and even then, half that availability is only when the country is asleep.

The late columnist Barry Ronge once wrote: “I refuse to sign up for a country where everyone ends up poor”(paraphrased).

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The census reveals that South Africa’s progress is somewhat regressive, moving towards unavailability of services that were once standard. That’s moving towards poverty.

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