IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH DATA ECOSYSTEMS

This month women across the globe celebrated International Women’s Day (IWD) – a day conceived at the 1910 International Women’s Conference in Denmark. Originally proposed at the 1910 conference by German socialist, Luise Zietz, with the support of fellow German political leader Clara Zetkin, the day was intended to celebrate achievements relating to women’s rights and to highlight inequalities that still need redress. Having been declared without a date, the IWD was celebrated for the first in 1911 in Denmark, Austria, Germany and Switzerland on 19 March. From 1914, the day has been observed on 8 March across several countries. During the International Women’s Year (1977) the United Nations declared 8 March as the UN Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace.

During this month South Africans also commemorate 21 March 1960. On this day 54 years ago more than 5 000 people marched to Sharpeville police station, demonstrating against the pass laws of the then government. Police shot at the marching crowd with live ammunition, killing 69 unarmed people. In 1994 South Africa declared 21 March Human Rights Day – a public holiday celebrating human rights and commemorating the Sharpeville Massacre.

In this issue of Mbalo Brief, we continue the Census 2011 district municipality results highlights with an educational article dedicated to Waterberg District Municipality census results. Solutions for February’s puzzle and a new general knowledge crossword puzzle are included on page iv. Our regular articles on price indices are also included. As usual, this issue is packed with articles profiling the performance of various industries – including manufacturing, electricity, mining and motor trade among others.

Articles published in this issue are based on results of industry surveys conducted for the months ranging from November 2013 to January 2014 which were released in February and March 2014. For full details on any of the surveys, visit our website at

Note: Statistics South Africa apologises for the exclusion of Tourism and migration data from this issue of Mbalo Brief. Due to a technical error at the data source (the Department of Home Affairs), the November 2013 statistical release for Tourism and migration (P0351) had not been published at the time of going to press. Download Mbalo – Brief March 2014