By Katlego Sekhu
The population and housing census 2022 started on the 3rd of February and will end in March 2022.
A census is the total count of a population whereby all people, including children and babies within the borders of a country, are counted. A census collects data about a country’s socio-economic dynamics, people’s living conditions, access to basic services, income, etc.
Stats SA is mandated by the Statistics Act to collect data for official statistics and to conduct a census.
Stats SA fieldworkers can be identified through the official Stats SA Identification Card displaying the Stats SA logo, the photograph, and a unique number of the fieldworker.
Thomas And Skhumba ask Kaya 959 listeners if they’ve had the pleasure of being counted by census officials.
Skhumba says he’s seen them in the township. “I have seen them ekasi, not where I stay. they wear green beeps. I always see them on the streets.”
Thomas has never come across Stats SA field workers and that bothers him.
Anonymous who’s a census field worker is worried about her safety. “It is sometimes dangerous, there are those people who are Nyaope boys and some of them will invite you to their houses and we are scared for our safety. We have to go alone,” she shares.
Hlulani shares, “I’ve had census people come to my house but the interview was very short. They came to validate a few things. It was five minutes.’
A former field worker shares why she resigned. “I used to work for the census until I resigned last week. The system that they use has many challenges. They hired many young people and declined older people who worked there before.
Lerato, who’s a field worker opens up about some of the problems she’s encountered. “The main problem that we get is refusal because people don’t want to be counted and with foreign nationals, the language barrier is a challenge.”
What people are saying on social media:
They asked if we have a washing machine. I was like😲 #ThomasAndSkhumba pic.twitter.com/vdsw9UiFAU
— 🇿🇦(^o^)BhoZza kaSteRing!🇿🇦 (@spijoe_SA) February 23, 2022
#ThomasAndSkhumba @skhumbi @TnS_ShowOnKaya Good morning, i have done my sensus questionnaire online. I mus6say is not easy though with all repeating questions each member of the household. Yane never seen such a long questionnaire 🤔🤔🤔
— Esther Sigama (@makhutsitsa) February 23, 2022
Gents what happens to patients admitted in hospital, I’ve never heard of census requesting hospital bed occupancy stats or do they get the data directly from DOH…? @thomasmsengana @skhumbi #ThomasAndSkhumba
— O’Dizz (@ODizzMcGirt) February 23, 2022
