Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) has appealed to the public to ensure that the people they allow into their homes during Census 2011 are indeed enumerators.
Reacting to reports that two men robbed a house in Johannesburg on Monday after they posed as Census enumerators, Stats SA spokesperson Trevor Oosterwyk said the public could verify the identity of enumerators before inviting them into their homes.
He said Census enumerators could be identified by the yellow t-shirts and shirts, black caps and their identity cards, which will contain a hologram to protect the cards from counterfeited.
“If the public are not certain that the people who knock on their doors are from Census, they should call 0800 110 248 to verify the enumerator’s details,” he said.
According to reports, two men gained entry to a house in Kensington after posing as Census officials. They allegedly robbed the owner at gunpoint, and got away with R5 000 and a gun firearm.
Oosterwyk said Monday’s robbery was the only incident he was aware of.
Census 2011 kicked off on Monday runs until 31 October. – BuaNews
Editor’s Notes: According to security ‘experts’ there are two questions that you ‘have to’ answer: ‘How many people stay on your premises’ and ‘What each of those people classify themselves as in terms of race’.
The official Stats SA guidelines says:
- The census questionnaire asks questions on demographics (sex, age, language etc.), migration (where one lives, if they have moved), general health and functioning, parental survival, income, education, employment, fertility, access to services and mortality.
- Stats SA, therefore, encourages all people in South Africa to co-operate with our fieldworkers and to give them complete and accurate data.
- Legally, Section 16 of the Statistics Act (Act 6 of 1999) obliges a respondent to answer all questions posed to them by a Stats SA worker.
BUT, no guidelines are given to confirm that only questions about the number and racial classifications of people that stayed in your home on 9 October 2011 may be POSED.
It appears that no-one has actually, in a court of law, challenged the veracity of the 75 questions scheduled to be asked / posed and that Stats SA has assumed that all questions must be answered – relying, instead, on the general apathy of the South African public to also assume that the answering of ALL questions is legally required.
BUT, when the question of racial classification is asked, the enumerator CANNOT decide for his or herself what to classify you as.
SO, wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing if each and every one of us insisted on being classified as South African? Or how about black people insisting on being classified as white and vice versa?
Twitter reactions to the start of South Africa’s Census 2011:
[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/datumrecruit/status/123716226701733889″]
[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/SouthAfricaNew1/status/123526779074908160″]
[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/MyDigitalLifeSA/status/123363505360470016″]
[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/radiotwok/status/123278165379526656″]
[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/helenzille/status/123115730148392960″]
[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/WhosWhoSA/status/123711058836856832″]
[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/JudasKissedHIM/status/123308528646623232″]
Alan Straton
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In my continuing quest to see what questions you HAVE TO answer for the census I came across this comment by Abrie Oosthuizen, the Freedom Front Plus MPL for Free State who said in an official FF Plus release; “Keep in mind that your only responsibility toward the census official is to confirm how many people are residing on the premises.”
Alan, that FF+ MPL is completely and utterly wrong. He was probably misled by the info about the 2010 American census that has been sent around by email and by security companies. That info is completely incorrect. You have to answer all the questions and there is no reason not to.