Stats SA Limpopo: Census 2022 is behind schedule
Challenges faced include the supply of vehicles for project use as well as finding field staff from certain areas which led to a slow start of the national Census.
POLOKWANE – Stats SA Limpopo executive manager, Nthambeleni Mukwevho says their projections show that Census 2022 is running behind schedule, which necessitates an extension by a period yet to be determined.
The national census started at midnight on February 2, when the team counted all the homeless people, those staying in overnight accommodation facilities and those travelling during that time. The official household counting started on the morning of February 3 and was expected to take its course over February.
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Mukwevho says although he is unable to indicate numbers in terms of progress at a granular level there will be a need to extend the operations. He says that the team has been experiencing some challenges across the provinces that are being dealt with.
“Some challenges were experienced with the supply of vehicles for project use as there are serious shortages in the market. These shortages hamper mobility and rapid response where necessary. The second challenges have been finding field staff from certain areas which led to a slow start and some delays in areas that had fewer than expected or no person at all. We are still experiencing shortages in some areas particularly in farming communities as well as the affluent and gated communities. We have received over a million applications, however, majority of this applicants are clustered in common areas while other areas have fewer or no applications.”
He says that they had hoped that people should largely work in their area of usual residence.
To address the mobility challenges over 90% of the needed vehicles have been sourced, however, the tailing few are putting pressure on our field teams.
Mukwevho says they have struggled a bit with refusals in certain communities that the supervisory are following up on and hope to convert this into a positive response before the end of the collection period. He adds that access protocols in gated communities delay the counting of the people who stay in those communities.
Mukwevho previously told Polokwane Observer that refusal to take part in the census is a criminal offence punishable by law.
