13 March2007
On 22 February, Minister of Finance Mr Trevor Manuel launched the Community
Survey in Pretoria. As of 7 March, Statistics South Africa finished all the
fieldwork related activities planned for the project.
As we indicated in previous meetings, the magnitude and challenges, among
others, of recruiting, training, appointing, deployment, and decommissioning of
100 000 people in a space of six weeks is tedious. Census has over the period
1996 and 2001 been an undertaking that we handled over five-year intervals.
However this exercise weighed heavily on the capacity of the organisation to
deliver on other core areas such as socio-economic time series.
The ongoing concern from National, Provincial, Local Government and the
private sector, of lack of statistical data beyond provincial level could not
be ignored, hence the necessity to conduct the Community Survey in the
intervening period between censuses. Accordingly, the community survey data
will be released at municipal level thereby ensuring that municipalities are
able to have a sound planning base.
During this data collection phase, Stats SA was able to improve its presence
throughout the country by establishing 55 District offices. The Community
Survey not only collected data but increased the infrastructural capacity
needed for statistical purposes. Apart from the infrastructural benefits, 4 467
enumerators were deployed across the length and breadth of the country, in
addition to 1 176 fieldwork supervisors and 237 fieldwork co-ordinators.
Initially it was estimated that ± 280 000 dwelling units would be visited
out of 17 098 enumeration areas (EAs). However, after the listing phase only
274 344 dwelling were legible for visitation in 16 255 EAs. There were 841 EAs
that did not have dwelling units to sample from and two EAs in Western Cape
could not be covered due to standing disputes of stakeholders in the area.
However in the last weekend we met with those community structures and we will
soon be visiting the sampled houses so that the survey can reflect the real
population and social dynamics in the Western Cape.
The figures below illustrate what response rate we received by province:
Province: Eastern Cape
Response rate (%): 96.3
Non-response rate (%): 3.7
Province: Free State
Response rate (%): 98.7
Non-response rate (%): 1.3
Province: Gauteng
Response rate (%): 91.8
Non-response rate (%): 8.2
Province: KwaZulu Natal
Response rate (%): 96.5
Non-response rate (%): 3.5
Province: Mpumalanga
Response rate (%): 97.6
Non-response rate (%): 2.4
Province: North West
Response rate (%): 95.2
Non-response rate (%): 4.8
Province: Northern Cape
Response rate (%): 97.4
Non-response rate (%): 2.6
Province: Limpopo
Response rate (%): 98.9
Non-response rate (%): 1.1
Province: Western Cape
Response rate (%): 92.0
Non-response rate (%): 8.0
Total
Response rate (%): 95.3
Non-response rate: 4.7
The nature and form of the data that was required by enumerators from Stats
SA included questions on:
* Measure of Population Distribution
* Measure Demographic changes
* Level of labour market statistics
* Status of education
* Equity and social differentiation
* Characteristics of households
* Access to services and welfare
Despite this response rate there were a number of challenges to name but a
few: non-contacts at 3.3% with Gauteng leading at 3 426 and Free State the
lowest at 92. These were concentrated in urban areas mostly high walled areas,
hostels and squatter camps.
Refusals are at 1.1% with Gauteng leading at 1 231 and Eastern Cape the
lowest at 64. These were mainly in urban areas, affluent areas across the
country and farms. Some of the reasons given are:
* donât want to be associated with government-run projects
* too many surveys from Statistics South Africa
* issues of confidentiality
* crime.
Stats SA would like to regret the loss of life due to a vehicle accident and
pass our sincere condolences once more to the family concerned.
The next few months will see a number of activities that will lead to the
release of the results late October. These include sending of all
questionnaires to head office at which point the information will be captured
and then verified. Many of these activities to which the members of the media
are invited to observe do not involve any activities in the open. Instead they
are secluded to statistical experts who will take the data and put it into
understandable statistical information. The forerunners to the release in
October will be:
* guillotining and scanning of questionnaires: 9 April to 31 May 2007
* data capturing: 2 May to 29 June 2007
* data quality assurance: 4 June to 13 July 2007
* editing, weighting and tabulation: 18 June to 20 July 2007
* data hand-over to Stats Council and other analysts for evaluation:
July/August 2007
* release: October/November 2007
Stats SA would like to thank the South African population at large for their
support during this phase, including opening their doors and answering the
questions. It is through such partnerships that we can make a difference in our
country.
Enquiries:
Simon Boshielo
Cell: 082 888 2371
Issued by: Statistics South Africa
13 March 2007
