Presidency to address Stats SA’s ‘Humpty Dumpty’ fall

A strong warning by the SA Stats Council for government to provide substantial funding for Stats SA, or else it would withdraw its support for official statistics and resign, lit a fire under Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu yesterday, who promised to meet with the body on Sunday.

David Everatt, chair of the council, said if Stats SA could not produce accurate official statistics, ratings agencies would punish the country, “international investors will turn elsewhere, domestic business will lack reliable planning data, and a downward spiral will be inevitable”.

“If Treasury fails immediately to fund Stats SA adequately, like Humpty Dumpty, it may not be able to put it together again, and decades of building the institution post-1994 will have been wasted,” Everatt said.

SA Stats Council is a statutory body independent of Stats SA, and advises the statistician-general and government on matters with official statistics.

Professor Peter Baur of the department of economics and econometrics at the University of Johannesburg, said the data generated by Stats SA was critical and without it government wouldn’t be able to make accurate decisions.

“Every single thing we touch on is measurable and we can base our decisions on it,” Baur said. “If we’re not going to be getting the information and disseminating it into the public, then we’re going to be blind.”

He cautioned there could be “double or triple” political agendas behind too much information.

“For example, does government really want to know how many unemployed people there are?

“We know we’re hitting 30% on one definition, around 40% on another, but at least we have them and we can compare ourselves as a country,” said Baur.

Everatt noted that in 2015, R160 million was removed from Stats SA’s budget and all posts were frozen – and this remained in place.

“The vacancy rate has climbed to almost 20% – that is, every fifth position is vacant, and many staff are thus taking on their own job and work that should be done by others. Working a six or even seven-day week is common.

“The freeze on posts means that no promotions are possible and no vacancies can be filled,” Everatt said.

Baur noted people working with the economy would not be able to do their job.

“Banks would be in trouble, universities, many of the government departments and institutions would be in trouble,” Baur said.

Everatt said Stats SA resolved the 2019 allegations of double voting “without argument” and would be expected to run Census 2021.

“This is a classy entity in anyone’s books,” said Everatt.

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