Large chunk of SA Census data flawed and cannot be released

There’s usually a measure of concern when government data suggests poor performance.

Far more concerning is when government can’t actually measure – especially if it involves key census data underpinning performance management. 

South Africa’s Census 2022 reportedly cost the taxpayer around R2,3-billion. But a large chunk of the data is flawed and cannot be released, Statistics South Africa has now belatedly confirmed following repeated warnings from experts. Census data is used to inform critical policy and operational decisions related to service delivery and resource allocation; without reliable data, decision-makers are essentially floundering in the dark.

Without accurate statistics we have no way of knowing if our publicly-elected officials are leading us astray.

The census glitch involves public data on employment, income, fertility and mortality, all of them key data-sets with multiple applications. It remains unclear how the glitch will be remedied.

“This is a travesty,” opined Tom Moultrie, one of the two demographers who raised the alarm in a Medical Research Council report. “The size and scope of the census usually permit all kinds of users (economists, demographers) to explore income, employment, and demographic indicators to a fine level of granularity. It provides one of the key pegs for parameterising population projections, which feed into a host of policy and programme initiatives. None of this, seemingly, will be possible,” Moultrie said.

Unfortunately the census slip-up is symptomatic of a broader problem of public service incompetence and inefficiency, a systemic weakness that is difficult to fix once entrenched. Under-qualified or inexperienced appointments effectively sabotage governance, at a time when we lack critical expertise to confront service delivery challenges.

Another case in point is Eskom, which had to cull nearly half of its power station managers to affect the much-needed turnaround that sees us cruising towards the 150-day no-load shedding milestone. Eskom board chairperson Mteto Nyati. "Possibly 45% of some of the power station managers were changed," Nyati confirmed in a recent media interview. 

The Eskom clean sweep underscores the importance of good leadership, particularly in the context of multiple challenges restricting economic progress. It is also a good lesson for those grappling with seemingly endemic under-performance at other critical SOEs; far more important than new gantry cranes at our harbours, for instance, is ensuring we have the right people to manage those cranes.

The same goes for those at the most senior levels of public office. 

However it is at the coalface of service delivery where the private sector has a critical role to play. Businesses rise or fall based on the quality of their personnel, and the market quickly determines who is fit-for-purpose. This is one of the reasons why the private sector should be more involved with the nuts and bolts of service delivery – to ensure critical work gets done to the best of our ability. 

You don’t need to be a statistician to know that governance should not be guesswork. 

The right people in the right jobs ultimately makes the numbers add up to a positive outcome. 

John Lawson
CEO of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry