Risenga Maluleke, the Statistician-General of South Africa and head of Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said he stands by the data of the 2022 Census and GDP figures released by the agency.

Government paid around R2.3 billion for the Census to be conducted.

Maluleke dismissed concerns that there were faults in the Census after University of Cape Town (UCT) professors Tom Moultrie and Rob Dorrington called the data into question and challenged the integrity of Stats SA.

"I'm not aware of the failures of the Census," Maluleke cried out at a media presentation in Pretoria this week.

He said that the two professors from UTC expressed reservations about the data but just because they raised concerns does not mean that the Census was a failure.

Moultrie and Dorrington submitted a technical report on the Census and outlined various shortcomings.

The two academics said that Stats SA had overestimated the population by as much as 1 million people.

Moreover, the two professors said that Stats SA had over-counted whites, Indians, and the populations of some small towns.

The statistical agency acknowledged that certain parts of the Census were not published due to some concerns over the data quality.

Stats SA noted that there were issues with data surrounding employment, income, mortality and fertility.

Why is this data so important?

The Census data is used by government to allocate crucial funds for municipalities and provinces.

Essentially, National Treasury uses the data on population size to allocate funds to provinces and local municipalities.

The Census data acts as a central baseline or benchmark on population information and is used for all planning by national government on finances, infrastructure and social services.

In November, DA spokesperson Katherine Christie said that without accurate and tested data, a number of government plans and Treasury’s equitable share calculations were delayed.

Christie called on government to resolve the critical issues within the Census immediately.

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