A high-powered delegation led by Northern Cape Premier, Hazel Jenkins, attended the Census 2011 launch held in Kimberly on Tuesday. The launch forms part of Stats SA’s drive to bring Census 2011 to the public.

Delivering her keynote address, Premier Jenkins called upon all sectors of the society to join government in mobilising every person in the province to participate in Census 2011.

“The census is undertaken periodically to assist government in planning and monitoring of policies. Stats SA is legally mandated to collect information from anyone within the borders of South Africa,” said Jenkins.

Without solid data and accurate information, Jenkins said, the country would be unable to measure the progress made so far and, therefore, statistics are critical for measuring development.

“We need to create an environment where researchers and analysts have access to a wide range of data to solve development problems in the country. I humbly request every person in the province to offer their full support to Statistics South Africa during Census 2011. Northern Cape cannot accept the undercount,” Jenkins said.

Commenting on the Census 2011 milestones, Calvin Molongoana, the Census 2011 Project Director, said this was the third census to be conducted post 1994. He said Stats SA will deploy a minimum of 120 000 people throughout the country to knock on the doors and administer the census questionnaire.

“Our plans have been ready since 2008 and have been approved by the necessary bodies. We have been doing various tests. We did the pilot in October 2009 and we are currently winding-up the Census Dress Rehearsal,” said Molongoana.