Stats SA hits the streets of Alberton
Provincial survey coordinator Joseph Muwe of Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) is pleading for participation from the public, as fieldworkers are expected to visit people’s homes while conducting their surveys.
Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) is urging all local households to ensure that they participate in surveys which are to be conducted by fieldworkers in Alberton and across the city.
Stats SA collects a wide range of data ranging from population census, economic information, life circumstances, and unemployment.
This also includes inflation data such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Consumer Price Index (CPI), Producer Price Index (PPI), and surveys such as the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS). It also includes General Household Survey (GHS), Domestic Tourism Survey (DTS) and Governance, Public Safety and Justice Survey (GPSJS).
Stats SA fieldworkers will be hitting the streets to conduct surveys in order to collect data, which will be very instrumental in disseminating official stats for the country.
They will be conducting the Income, Continuous Data Collection (CDC) and Expenditure Survey (IES) as well as the QLFS, and accurate information allows for proper service delivery.
Currently, the IES is being conducted in New Redruth and Verwoerdpark, while QLFS is currently spearheaded in Brackendowns, Brackenhurst, Meyersdal, Albersdal and Randhart.
Need for accuracy
Cheryl Taylor, provincial survey coordinator in marketing, publicity and communications, said they would like the community to cooperate, but within a safe space.
“They’re contributing to something that is really important. If we don’t measure inflation correctly it means that when salary increases and medical aid increases come, that might be influenced. We provide information for evidence-based decision making. We need to get accurate information, and we can’t get that information if households don’t give it to us,” she explained.
She reiterated that households’ information is kept confidential, as fieldworkers are legally obliged not to breach confidentiality and locals will not be required to fork out any money.
According to Morongwa Molema, provincial survey coordinator, before they come into an area, they consult with gatekeepers in order to raise publicity.
“In complexes, we normally communicate with body cooperates where we do more publicity to them as they are our stakeholders. And we would highly appreciate it if our gatekeepers in the area could kindly revert to our electronic communication in time,” she said.
Stats SA officials can be identified by their employee cards, uniforms, and introduction letter with contact details of their supervisors. They can also be identified with vehicles branded with the Stats SA logo [national coat of arms].
Survey officers can also be verified online by visiting Stats SA’s website.
