The National Statistics System: Our Challenge
Presented by Statistics South Africa
03-04-2002
Lord Charles Hotel: Somerset West
Cape Town
Pali Lehohla
Statistics South Africa
1
The National Statistics System: Our Challenge
Abstract
That the implementation of a national statistics system to meet development information needs in South
Africa is long overdue is beyond debate. Perhaps what could be the centre of debate would be the options
for, and the pace of deliberately developing a national statistics system. Worldwide, it is observed that first
world countries possess and continue to invest in well developed information and statistics systems. This
statement does not suggest causality but observes this profound pattern. The paper attempts to outline
what is required for South Africa to meet its development information needs within a globalising economy
and an informatising society. The paper asserts that this can be achieved by developing a national
statistics system. Drawing from international best practice and experiences, the paper identifies four
general patterns of statistical development adopted by various countries. It observes that the development
of statistical infrastructure is a long and arduous process and notes that sustained use of statistics and
credibility of the system depend on quality and timeliness of the products delivered by the system.
Focusing on South Africa, the paper makes a critical analysis of how the statistics system in South Africa
stalled its development over time, and points out the major challenges and populates a “to do’s” agenda
for South Africa to be part of the information age.
1. Background:
Governments require data and information for planning, decision-making and monitoring
of social and economic development and change. Different sets of requisite information
e.g., quantitative or and qualitative are used for this purpose. Data types require different
methods of collection. For instance, through a snapshot household survey, quantitative
data can be assembled on the living conditions of citizens; alternatively, through a
continuous compilation of administrative records, an assessment of living conditions or
access to facilities can also be made. The second type of data is qualitative (tending to
explain an underlying phenomena), and this requires a different method of compilation
including interpretation. It involves feelings and perceptions about issues. The third
consists of studying existing records and documents such as records of proceedings,
project documents and minutes. Information architecture and electronic data
management systems enable technocrats to support politicians in decision making by
ploughing through this maze of information. Project KITE in South Africa aims at
achieving this goal.
South Africa, in the post apartheid era, recognises the need for a planning cycle and a
framework for managing strategic policy priorities. This is captured and demonstrated in
the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), the Medium Term Expenditure
Framework (MTEF), the creation of clusters, five in all, and the Medium Term Budget
Policy Statement (MTBPS). It is admitted that had a more rigorous approach to planning
been adopted, the last six years would have witnessed considerably more progress.
Subsequently the President gave instructions to the Management Committee (MANCO),
of the Forum for South Africa’s Directors’ General (FOSAD), to develop a planning
cycle that would be underpinned by a strategic framework. This would strengthen coordination and alignment of plans, strategies, budgets, monitoring and reporting. In short
it will enable better management of service delivery. In their Lekgotla of 2000, Cabinet
2
instructed departments to create an information system and present progress in the next
Cabinet Lekgotla scheduled for January 2001. Statistics South Africa was mandated the
task of co-ordinating this effort.
The South African government like many others, through a range of departments and
instruments, engages in detailed data gathering and information collection processes of
one or the other form in an attempt to inform its development policies and programmes.
2. Organisation of the paper
This paper is organised into three parts. The first part focuses on country experiences,
the second relates to the South African situation and the third part puts across a
programme of action for the establishment of a national statistics system.
3. What is a national statistics system
“A national statistics system is a system that has a coherent body of data. It consists of
users, producers and suppliers of data and information. It aims to ensure continuous coordination and co-operation among producers and users of official statistics in order to
advance standardisation, quality, consistency, comparability and use of evidence as the
basis for policy choices and decision making, and avoid unnecessary and costly
duplication.”1
A National Statistics System “is a coordinating framework within which the required
information for development in the form of indicators are generated. Outputs of the
National Statistics System would be indicators and databases within the context of a
Management System of Statistical Information. … A National Statistics System is a
partnership between those responsible for policy formulation and those responsible for
policy implementation so that the latter know precisely what the former wish to achieve,
and thereby facilitate production of relevant information to reinforce the planning
cycle.”2
4. Organisation of statistics systems
Statistics systems are either centralised or decentralised. In a centralised system, there is
a single authority with a legal mandate for collecting statistics and this institution
collaborates with others by formal arrangements on the collation of statistics. The
Handbook of Statistical Organisation defines such organisation as follows “A system…of
one department within the government to organise and operate a scheme of co-ordinated
social and economic statistics pertaining to the whole country. This department collects,
compiles and publishes statistical information …and, in addition collaborates with other
departments of government in the compilation of administrative and specialised
statistics.”3
1
Statistics South Africa 2000
Statistics South Africa 2001
3
Handbook of Statistical Organisation 1980
2
3
Examples of countries with a centralised system are Australia, Canada and South Africa.
Those known to have a decentralised system are Japan, America and the United Kingdom
(UK), the latter until recently and is moving towards a centralised system.
5. What are official statistics:
Official statistics are defined by the United Nations Statistical Commission as “an
indispensable element in the information system of a democratic society, serving the
Government, the economy and the public with data about the economic, demographic,
social and environmental situation. To this end, official statistics that meet the test of
practical utility are to be compiled and made available on an impartial basis by official
statistical agencies to honour citizens’ entitlement to public information.”4
The White Paper on official statistics in the UK define them as those statistics that “are
collected by government to inform debate, decision making and research both within
government and by the wider community. They provide an objective perspective of the
changes taking place in national life and allow comparisons between periods of time and
geographical areas.”5
“Open access to official statistics provides the citizen with more than a picture of
society. It offers a window on the work and performance of government itself, showing
the scale of government activity in every area of public policy and allowing the impact of
public policies and actions to be assessed. Reliable social and economic statistics are
fundamental to ...open government (and) it is the responsibility of government to provide
them and to maintain public confidence in them.”6
An important aspect of official statistics is the trust that the participants accord the
system. To retain trust, the agency should decide on the basis of professional
considerations, scientific principles and professional ethics, what methods and procedures
should be followed for the collection, processing, storage and presentation of statistical
data.
6. Statistical development: an international perspective
In this part of the paper we explore statistical developments in a number of countries in
particular, the Americas, Oceania, Europe and Africa. Finally we focus on South Africa.
It must be noted that the evolution of official statistics in each country is mainly a product
of its history. A recurring feature across the country studies is the dominance of one of
the three patterns in the development of their statistics. Firstly, we observe a pattern in a
group of countries where statistical development has generally evolved over time without
any direct intervention by the political leadership. In these countries the statistics
systems succeeded or declined over time. Success stories of statistics systems where this
4
United Nations Statistics Commission 1994
United Kingdom White Paper on Open Government (July 1993) Cm 2290
6
United Kingdom White Paper on Open Government (July 1993) Cm 2290
5
4
pattern was predominant are Australia, Sweden and Canada. A decline in the statistics
system has been observed largely in countries on the African continent. The UK has also
had a tumultuous era in the development of its statistics system which was precipitated
during the reign of Thatcher. A second pattern is that of countries where statistical
development had advanced to impressive levels but collapsed dramatically towards the
end of the 1980’s. In this category are the Eastern Bloc countries and China, which
through their centralised planning approach developed a sophisticated battery of statistics
systems for centralised economies but faced an unprecedented onslaught with the demise
of communism and the emergence of the market economy. The third pattern of statistical
development features in most of the third world countries. This came about with the
advocacy for writing off debt in respect of the highly indebted and poor countries. With
the movement towards addressing debt relief, statistical organisations are beginning to
adopt strategic plans as the means of managing their affairs. In this countries we observe
political leadership taking the lead to address issues of information and statistics. In this
regard PARIS21 continues to play a positive catalytic role. Zambia, Mozambique,
Uganda and Malawi are some of the countries that have adopted this approach. The
fourth pattern of statistical development consists of a situation where countries without
addressing matters of debt relief, discover that it cannot be business as usual; democracy,
informatisation and globalisation demand of the political leadership to adapt strategic
plans and follow them through. As a consequence the leadership put statistics at the top
of the agenda. South Africa, Korea and some of the Latin American countries fall in this
category.
6.1 Chile
The 1990’s witnessed relentless efforts towards reform in government systems, and since
1995 the Government of Chile had been committed to a process of state modernization.
The management of the National Institute for Statistics (INE), like the Australian Bureau
of Statistics, as we will see later responded to the historic importance of this initiative.
An important initiative was recognising that for INE to succeed in its modernising
programme, it was essential to ensure the full commitment and involvement of staff. As
a result, the staff of the institute was brought in to form joint task teams carrying out an
organizational diagnosis. These teams were supported by the specialist work of a team of
professionals assigned this purpose in 1998. The diagnostic exercise focused on the
assessment of critical areas of management, namely: Human Resources Quality,
Management Styles and Strategic Planning.
In addressing these four areas INE, ascertained that if it is to achieve quality statistics,
essential skills for driving statistics had to be acquired, mastered and assimilated in the
Institute. This was achieved through implementing vocation for statistical work at INE.
A key management area for analysis was Human Resources Quality. The main effort here
went into ascertaining the degree to which three essential skills, regarded as the critical
ones were to be addressed. Firstly, effort was put on the quality of human resources to
ensure that they have been assimilated and mastered in the Institute. Secondly, focusing
5
on responsibility and commitment towards society, which in the main emphasises the
importance of statistical work as an aspect that requires to be nurtured. Thirdly, vocation
for public service which emphasises user orientation in the production of statistics has
been implemented. As a result of addressing this area of work a common vision between
management and staff was forged.
Management Style was the second critical area analysed within INE. As regards this
aspect, the diagnosis pointed out to a practice that focused on procedures and oversight of
tasks and activities than towards processes and empowerment. A new management style
was implemented which emphasised participation. The third critical management area
analysed was Strategic Planning and the diagnosis indicated complete paucity of use of
modern tools required for planning. The new design brought about a flatter structure
which applied “values of quality, transparency, teamwork and respect for individuals in
each and every project undertaken. It is a style that values creativity, responsibility,
innovation and criticism in a context where users and their requirements are accorded the
highest priority.”7
The changes in structure were followed through with changes in the budgeting
procedures and adopting new technological platforms such as the incorporation of the
intranet in the work process and extending the facility to the regional offices. The
benefits have been in notable improvements in the quality of decisions being made. By
automating processes the quality of data from field has also improved dramatically.
6.2 Mozambique
In Mocambique, the National Statistics Institute (INE) was created by Presidential Decree
9/96 of August 28th. INE is the central executive body of the National Statistics System
(SEN) and it is charged with the production and publication of the country’s official
statistics. The INE is an autonomous institution that reports to the Council of Ministers.
The SEN’s constituent bodies include the Senior Statistics Board (CSE), the General
Population and Housing Census Co-ordination Board, the National Statistics Institute
(INE) and the Bank of Mozambique.
The creation of the SEN and the INE came as a sequel of the economic, social and
political transformations that started, in particular, with the introduction of the Economic
and Social Rehabilitation Plan in 1997. The structure, functions and results of official
statistics activity came as a direct response to the new era of multi-party democracy,
peace and market economy that emerged in Mozambique.
Within this short space of time INE conducted the 2nd General Population and Housing
Census in 1997, the National Household Survey in 1996-97, the production of the
Consumer Price Index, the Demography and Health Survey in 1997 and the re-launch of
general and specialised statistical publications.
7
Challenges and trends in the modernisation of national statistics systems 2001
6
It is observed that INE increased its human resources, recruiting technical personnel with
university degrees and promoting several short- and long-term training courses in order to
meet its new challenges. The status of INE was administratively promoted to a deputy
minister position, similar to the situation in Korea.
A recurring theme in country experiences is training of staff in order to meet emerging
challenges. INE carries out a prospective appraisal of the human resource requirements
for the National Statistics System. This is particularly laying emphasis for recruiting and
retaining better-qualified and specialised staff. They promote the progressive creation of
working conditions – organisational, functional and operational – that will help recruit
and select personnel. They also promote co-operation with other divisions in the
development and implementation of training programmes in priority areas.
As regards infrastructure, INE promotes the progressive establishment of conditions that
will modernise the NSS and this is done through a strategic information systems
development plan.
Furthermore, INE aims at increasing the geographic decentralisation of the INE
(deconcentration) by adequately equipping the Provincial Delegations. INE intends to set
up information use committees within the divisions of the appropriate central services
and carry out studies and hold seminars concerning user requirements.
6.3 Zambia
To date the Zambian statistical system is thirty eight years old. It came into being by an
Act of -Parliament Cap 425 of the Laws of Zambia in 1964. Under this Act the Director
of the Central Statistics Office (CSO) is mandated to conduct all censuses and surveys
and to organise a coordinated scheme of social and economic statistics relating to
Zambia. CSO like many other institutes is a corporate and legal body. Furthermore it is
also an autonomous body except for matters concerning human resource. Under the
current set up, CSO falls under the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development
(MOFED) with Budget and Economic Affairs Division.
The statistical development in Zambia followed a centralised trajectory which was
consolidated in 1970, when the unified statistical information system came into being.
This process involved the secondment of CSO staff to various line ministries. A similar
approach was followed in Malawi until the time when budgetary constraints undermined
this approach leading to abandoning of this approach. Currently Malawi is reviving its
system and is captured in the 2002-2006 Strategic Plan for statistics in Malawi.
The current status of the statistical system in Zambia consists of the CSO, the statistical
units in the line Ministries and parastatals, the University Research Institutes, the Bank of
Zambia and the Statistical units in the private sector organizations and NGOs.
In their recent User producer meeting the delegates concluded as follows: “A Standing
committee of CSO, BOZ and MOFED should be in place to work on macro-economic
data required for developmental policies.
7
Data analysis should be undertaken by the users according to their needs but in cases of
low capacity there should be collaboration with the producers to carry out necessary
analysis. CSO should give leadership in this task.
There is need for relevant Institutions to meet regularly to discuss their data needs as well
as means of collection and analysis. Committees could be established made up of all
stakeholders and these committees should be led by the CSO. This should lead to the
establishment of better and sustainable dialogue between users and producers.
There should be coordination between the producers of data and donors in funding the
establishment of databases into which all sectors could tap for policy formulation and
monitoring.
There is need to integrate both the methods and data in the measurement of Poverty. In
this regard, Quantitative and Qualitative approaches should be examined for Integration.
Data should be made more accessible by “going beyond talking to like-minds” through
the presentation of complex data in a simple manner to ordinary Zambian.
Need to re-establish a coordinated national statistical system.
Need to re-establish the System of Administrative Statistics (SAS) by re-building
statistical teams in the ministries with close links with the CSO.
Establish an Inventory Library at CSO as well as electronic database containing abstracts
of what is available (and their data sets).
Necessary to develop capacity building programmes in the areas of data analysis,
dissemination, coordination, data management for producers and users of data and top
policy makers.
There is need to revise the current statistical Act of 1964 so as to provide an appropriate
legal framework.
It is recommended that a strategic plan to implement a statistical framework be
developed.
CSO and MOFED should initiate establishment National Statistical Coordinating
Committee.
It is recommended that Poverty desks or focal point officers in all Institutions be
established.
There is need to evidence based policies that are technically sound, growth oriented,
poverty reduction focused and politically achievable and implementable.
8
A national forum on poverty should be held.
There is the need to strictly monitor the expenditure on Poverty Reduction Programmes
of the debt relief fund. To ensure transparency of the monitoring system, Private Sector
and the Civil Society should be encouraged to participate in the monitoring.
Carry out a comprehensive statistical needs assessment exercise.”8
6.4 Malawi
The National Statistics Office of Malawi is directly responsible for all statistics produced
by government ("official statistics"). Despite good co-operation and collaboration
amongst those involved in the production process, this is largely ad–hoc and mechanisms
for preventing overlaps, gaps, or incompatibilities in the provision of statistics need to be
formalised and implemented. Although the 1967 Statistics Act determines the legal
responsibilities of the Commissioner of Census and Statistics, the provisions are outdated
and largely not enforced.
Part of the reform process in Malawi for statistics is legislative reform, defining roles and
responsibilities of the National Statistics Committee, compiling an inventory of statistics
that are required, develop and publish a framework for national statistics and co-ordinate
standards and classifications and promote the use of statistics. Furthermore promote
training and publicise the training programme.
It is further believed that there is need for the NSO to become a semi-autonomous
agency, governed by a revised National Statistical Act and accountable to a Management
Board. This suggests a closer organisational pattern to that of Uganda where the statistics
office is managed by a board of directors.
6.5 Australia
Australia is one of the top three countries noted for their good statistics systems. At one
point in time the outgoing Commonwealth Statistician reformed the statistics system of
the UK. The Australian experience was initially dominated by its colonial history
beginning in 1787 whereby it was demanded of the system to submit regular reports on
the number of people and animals by the UK, her colonial master. Over time the
Governor of the colonies began to use the data for managing the colony and this became
important when the self-government was granted in 1855.The UK required regular
reports and the colonies obliged, often by conducting “musters” to count the people and
the animals. Thus began the centralised collection of data. However, the Governors of
the colonies gradually began to use the data to help with the management of the colonies,
and this became particularly important from 1855 when self-government was granted.
Fifty years later in 1905, the Census and Statistics Act created a Federal Bureau charged
8
Data requirements for the PRSP in Zambia, CSO August 2001
9
predominately with conducting population and agriculture censuses, and coordinating
issues with the State Bureaux. As a consequence of this, there was rapid expansion of
the system into areas of macro economic statistics following the great depression in the
1920s.
It took another fifty years, in 1970, for the Australian Government to establish an
independent central statistical authority, known as the Australian Bureau of Statistics
(ABS). This was to be a user oriented institution that would serve the governments and
the community as a whole. Key features of this institution would be being policy neutral,
and promote appropriate balance between different fields of economic and social
statistics.
Government reforms on improving public sector management spurred another major
development in the ABS, and the ABS developed and implemented a strategic planning
and an overall corporate management approach. Simultaneously it adopted matrix
management with statistical and services program managers in Canberra Office being
responsible for planning and strategic guidance for all activities in their programs across
all offices, while the day-to-day operational responsibilities lay with the senior managers
in each State office. With these changes for the first time the integrated statistical service
operated as a whole rather than the sum of parts. It is said that the ABS success lies in
part on this style of management.
For it to retain a competitive edge, the ABS acknowledged that its success could not only
be judged by its outputs, but rather by how well these products are used by government
and the community at large. The ABS has therefore, had to market its services
extensively.
It should be pointed out that a considerable amount of statistics in the ABS is handled by
the Federal and State Government departments, although in general, the ABS features
prominently across most of this activity spectrum. For instance, there is an Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare that has a significant statistical role. The Australian
Statistician is on its board of management, and under law the ABS must agree to them
undertaking the collection of data.
Another critical aspect that has led to the ABS being a successful institution is the longterm investment that has been made by the ABS in recruiting, training and developing
staff. Although there are many facets to this, only three are worth mention. First, the
ABS employs young promising undergraduates and pay them while they continue with
completion of degrees before commencing work as full time employees in the ABS.
This has been a successful internship programme for long-term tenure. Second, the ABS
spends about 8% of the budget per annum on staff development and this has paid
dividends in terms having a stream of knowledgeable statisticians and managers
available for deployment. Third, by adopting a policy of staff rotation ABS, ensures that
all senior staff acquire a broad-range of work experiences, across various subject-matter
and service areas and in regional and central offices.
10
What is important to note is that the development of an effective statistics system is not a
simple or straightforward process. In the Australian case, it has taken over 200 years to
evolve. South Africa does not have 200 years.
6.7 The United Kingdom
As part of the developed world the UK experience is an interesting one. All power was
centralised in Whitehall. But in addition to this the system was decentralised, with each
department having a separate and independent statistical unit. This legacy started in
1832. This arrangement was to for approximately a century when the depression that
preceded the war and the post World War II reconstruction necessitated the compiling of
the national accounts as macro-economic statistics became important for governing the
country. This additional role actually enhanced the co-ordination function.
It took yet another thirty years, in 1970, to realise that there were significant efficiency
gains and respondent management gains to be exploited by bringing under the same
governing body however separately, into two separate units, the collection of data from
business and households. The Business Statistics Office (BSO) and the Office for
Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS) came into being. But the implementation was
such that these were not located at the centre. While the Central Statistics Office was
given the overall responsibility the decentralised statistical structure remained.
As was the case in Australia in 1970 there was a rapid expansion of the statistical system
to match the higher profile of statistics in government decision making. However, in the
Thatcher years, the gains were pushed back, with cuts in staff and the only statistics to be
collected were those that would meet only the needs of government. It was not long
before quality issues came to the fore both within and outside government. By the close
of the decade, twenty years from 1970, the office was expanded and included
responsibility for the collection of business statistics (including managerial responsibility
for the BSO) for compilation of trade and financial statistics and for the retail prices
index and family expenditure survey. The CSO was launched as an Executive Agency,
and was empowered to run extra collections, and increase the sample sizes in many
others. The result was a dramatic and significant improvement in the reliability of UK's
macro economic statistics.
Five years later in 1995, the CSO were to merge with the Office for Population Censuses
and Surveys (OPCS) to form a new "Executive" Agency hat would be known as the
Office for National Statistics (ONS). The merger brought together in a logical way the
long overdue merger. As part of the logic, the Employment Department was abolished,
and responsibility for labour market statistics was transferred to the CSO. The ONS, has
now assumed responsibility of the economic and household based statistics produced in
the UK statistical system. The overall employment stands at 2,500 staff out of about
5,000 overall in the Government Statistics System. With this approach the following was
achieved:


“greater integration between social and economic statistics;
improved access to official statistics, especially through the database of key statistics
11


combining the advantages of a decentralised system with a strong and independent
co-ordinating agency; and
providing benefits for all users, both government and non-government.”9
As the century drew to a close further advocacy work has continued in the statistics
system of the UK, even drawing more on political leadership. The Labour Government
elected to power in 1997 had on its agenda, the establishment of an independent
statistical service. As a step to getting close to this in early 1998, it issued a Green Paper
“Statistics: A Matter of Trust” and sought the views of the public on the matter. The
outcome of this process was published in a White Paper “Building trust in statistics.” It
is said that the White Paper did not however, go far enough to revolutionarise the UK
statistics system and the opportunity for a quantum leap was lost and parts of the
influential decentralised components survived intact. However, a new post of National
Statistician responsible for national statistics was established with responsibilities as the
Director of the ONS and head of the Government Statistical Service. Furthermore a
Statistical Commission was established and advises the Government on issues of
statistical integrity and quality assurance as well as commenting on the program of work
for national statistics. The Commission reports to Parliament annually and Parliament
will have some direct involvement in over sighting national statistics. The trajectory in
the UK has been much more difficult compared to that of Australia and in both cases the
development was over an extensive period of time.
6.8 Canada
Canada is one of the top four agencies renowned for best practice in the statistics globe
with extensive international development programme. Under the Statistics Act, Statistics
Canada is required to "collect, compile, analyse, abstract and publish statistical
information relating to he commercial, industrial, financial, social, economic and general
activities and conditions of the people of Canada." Statistics Canada prides itself of two
main objectives: Firstly, to provide statistical information and analysis about Canada’s
economic and social structure by developing and evaluating public policies and programs
thereby improve public and private decision-making for the benefit of all Canadians.
Secondly, to promote sound statistical standards and practices by using common concepts
and classifications to provide better quality data. Through working with the provinces
and territories Statistics Canada, aims to achieve greater efficiency in data collection and
less duplication. Furthermore they aim at reducing the burden on respondents through
greater use of data sharing agreements (sources used include annual tax records, monthly
employee payroll records and customs records) improving statistical methods and
systems through joint research studies and projects. In addition to bringing out about 350
active surveys on average per year, Statistics Canada brings statistics to life through a
variety of innovative programmes in schools amongst many other methods.
Furthermore Statistics Canada, operates within the context of portals or clusters rather
than through government departments. The challenge for the agency is how to structure
9
The evolution of official statistics: implications for management and trainin,g Bill McLennan
12
the design of these portals such that they interface seamlessly with the data holdings of
Statistics Canada.
On the issue of methods and standards the Chief Statistician in Canada had this to say
“Recently the news media have provided increasing coverage of Statistics Canada's low
income cut-offs and their relationship to the measurement of poverty. At the heart of the
debate is the use of the low income cut-offs as poverty lines, even though Statistics
Canada has clearly stated, since their publication began over 25 years ago, that they are
not. The high profile recently given to this issue has presented Statistics Canada with a
welcome opportunity to restate its position on these issues. Many individuals and
organizations both in Canada and abroad understandably want to know how many people
and families live in "poverty", and how these levels change. Reflecting this need,
different groups have at different times developed various measures which purported to
divide the population into those who were poor and those who were not. In spite of these
efforts, there is still no internationally-accepted definition of poverty - unlike measures
such as employment, unemployment, gross domestic product, consumer prices,
international trade and so on. This is not surprising, perhaps, given the absence of an
international consensus on what poverty is and how it should be measured. Such
consensus preceded the development of all other international standards. The lack of an
internationally-accepted definition has also reflected indecision as to whether an
international standard definition should allow comparisons of well-being across countries
compared to some international norm, or whether poverty lines should be established
according to the norms within each country.
The proposed poverty lines have included, among others, relative measures (you are poor
if your means are small compared to others in your population) and absolute measures
(you are poor if you lack the means to buy a specified basket of goods and services
designated as essential).
Both approaches involve judgmental and, hence, ultimately arbitrary choices. In the case
of the relative approach, the fundamental decision is what fraction of the overall average
or median income constitutes poverty. Is it one-half, one-third, or some other proportion?
In the case of the absolute approach, the number of individual judgements required to
arrive at a poverty line is far larger. Before anyone can calculate the minimum income
needed to purchase the "necessities" of life, they must decide what constitutes a
"necessity" in food, clothing, shelter and a multitude of other purchases, from
transportation to reading material.
The underlying difficulty is due to the fact that poverty is intrinsically a question of social
consensus, at a given point in time and in the context of a given country. Someone
acceptably well off in terms of the standards in a developing country might well be
considered desperately poor in Canada. And even within the same country, the outlook
changes over time. A standard of living considered as acceptable in the previous century
might well be viewed with abhorrence today.
13
It is through the political process that democratic societies achieve social consensus in
domains that are intrinsically judgmental. The exercise of such value judgements is
certainly not the proper role of Canada's national statistical agency which prides itself on
its objectivity, and whose credibility depends on the exercise of that objectivity.
In Canada, the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Working Group on Social Development
Research and Information was established to create a method of defining and measuring
poverty. This group, created by Human Resources Development Canada and social
services ministers in the various jurisdictions, has proposed a preliminary market basket
measure of poverty - a basket of market-priced goods and services. The poverty line
would be based on the income needed to purchase the items in the basket. Once
governments establish a definition, Statistics Canada will endeavour to estimate the
number of people who are poor according to that definition. Certainly that is a task in line
with its mandate and its objective approach. In the meantime, Statistics Canada does not
and cannot measure the level of "poverty" in Canada.
For many years, Statistics Canada has published a set of measures called the low income
cut-offs. We regularly and consistently emphasize that these are quite different from
measures of poverty. They reflect a well-defined methodology which identifies those who
are substantially worse off than the average. Of course, being significantly worse off than
the average does not necessarily mean that one is poor.
Nevertheless, in the absence of an accepted definition of poverty, these statistics have
been used by many analysts to study the characteristics of the relatively worst off families
in Canada. These measures have enabled us to report important trends, such as the
changing composition of this group over time. For example, 20 to 30 years ago the
elderly were by far the largest group within the "low income" category, while more
recently lone-parent families headed by women have grown in significance.
Many people both inside and outside government have found these and other insights to
be useful. As a result, when Statistics Canada carried out a wide-ranging public
consultation a decade ago, we were almost unanimously urged to continue to publish our
low income analyses. Furthermore, in the absence of a generally accepted alternative
methodology, the majority of those consulted urged us to continue to use our present
definitions. In the absence of politically-sanctioned social consensus on who should be
regarded as "poor", some people and groups have been using the Statistics Canada
low-income lines as a de facto definition of poverty. As long as that represents their
own considered opinion of how poverty should be defined in Canada, we have no
quarrel with them: all of us are free to have our own views. But they certainly do not
represent Statistics Canada's views about how poverty should be defined.”10 Italics and
bold are the author’s.
10
Statistical methods discussion papers and new surveys on poverty and low income, Statistics Canada September 1997
14
6.9 Korea
The National Statistics Office of Korea was established by Act in 1948 when the Korean
government was first established. The office then called the Bureau consisted of one
officer and 4 divisions: General Affairs, Planning, Population Census and Vital Statistics.
On the 13th of December 1948, the first Population Census was declared by the 39th
presidential decree. This was the first administrative order the Korean government ever
made in relation to statistical policy. After the Korean War, the Constitution was
reviewed and complied with the introduction of the Market Economic System. This
implied far-reaching changes, and the Bureau of Statistics was transferred to the Ministry
of Home Affairs as a result in 1955 and there was further re-organisation and the Bureau
was reconstituted into 3 Divisions of Planing, Population Census and Vital Statistics.
General Affairs had disappeared. Six years later in 1961, the Economic Planning Board
(EPB) was launched, and the Bureau of Statistics was relocated to EPB from the Ministry
of Home Affairs. An additional branch was added namely, the Division of Survey and
Analysis, this was in 1962. By the end of 1963, the Bureau of Statistics was renamed as
the National Bureau of Statistics (NBOS). At the same time, the NBOS - now as an
external bureau of EPB - was restructured into the 4 Divisions of Statistical Planing,
Statistical Standards, Population Statistics, and Economic Statistics. As a consequence of
this restructuring and its location in EBP, the NBOS expanded several times. During this
period, the NBOS had played a vital role of providing the basic data required for
formulating and evaluating economic development policies.
Upon recognising the increasing importance of producing fundamental statistics and
coordinating national statistical services, the National Bureau of Statistics was again
increased in size and promoted to a status of vice minister administratively, like is the
case in Mozambique. At the same time it was consequently renamed the National
Statistical Office (NSO) in December 1990. The NSO now included 3 bureaus, 14
divisions, 11 statistical offices and 15 local branch offices.
To address training needs in September 1991, the Statistical Training Center was set up
for the purpose of producing lots of professional experts for statistics. In February 1995,
two Divisions were established namely Statistical Information and International Statistics
which aimed at improving the quality of statistical information services and fulfilling
ever-increasing demands on international statistical services.
In September 1996, the position of the Statistical Examiner was created, and the Division
of Population Statistics was expanded into 2 Divisions of Population Census and Vital
Statistics. In addition, the Division of Statistical Research was also created.
Currently the NSO has 4 bureaux, 19 divisions, 12 statistical offices and 35 local branch
offices and 1 training centre.
The work on social indicators in Korea was initiated thirty years ago in 1972. As a result
of this process Korea had by 1978 three hundred and fifty across eight areas of social
15
concern. By 1987, in response to changing economic conditions, Korea extended its
indicator profile to 468, covering nine areas of social concern. As a result of continuous
improvements Korea now covers 553 indicators covering 13 areas of social concern.
Korea is at the forefront of measuring information and communications technology (ICT)
as part of the indicator package.
6.10 South Africa
“The world-wide movement to transform the way government goes about its business has
greatly influenced the Government of South Africa. The government has sought to place
at the forefront of governance accountability to the citizenry of the country, effective and
efficient management; delivery of services and “business” principles of business planning
and goal attainment as the way it runs South Africa.”11
6.10.1 Background
To understand the trajectory of the development of statistical systems in South Africa,
this background is appropriate. The development of the statistical system in South
Africa has often been rooted in the underlying political system. Mclennan confirms this
observation by suggesting that “the evolution of official statistics in each country is mainly
a product of its history.”12 Although South Africa on the African continent has had one of
the longest formal history of statistical development, its path has been largely a sorry one.
In general, the system has been an undernourished one, characterised by extreme and
rapidly growing fragmentation. This was particularly so in the period from 1970 to 1994.
This was consistent with the implementation of grand apartheid. Prior to this period, the
system reflected the racial tensions inherent in the formative years of apartheid. The post
liberation period has been marked by attempts to consolidate the system but lack of
vision and strategy undermined attempts for operational effectiveness. This meeting cohosted by The Presidency, Statistics South Africa and PARIS21 allows for a strategic
intercourse for statistical development. It is the first deliberate and strategic attempt for
creating an NSS to inform a democratic dispensation.
6.10.2 Fragmentation of the system under apartheid
From 1970 to 1994 the system had been fragmented and was dominated by six distinct
forces. Each of these had its sphere of geographic and/or thematic influence.

The CSS predominantly focused on Whites as a population group and the economy of
the geographic component referred to as the erstwhile White South Africa. This left
the economy of the Black population in the then South Africa relatively unknown and
hitherto, this is still unexplored in South Africa as currently constituted.
11
Operational evaluation unit: The development and use of development indicators, Benny Mokaba, 1995
12
The evolution of official statistics: implications for management and trainin,g Bill McLennan
16





The HSRC as a source of official statistical information, focused on the Black
population. This was both in the homelands and South Africa but largely studied
their demographics as a theme.
The third force was the DBSA who looked at financing of Black development and as
an information source, they predominantly acted in the homelands. There was some
conflict and professional jealousy between the erstwhile CSS and the DBSA,
particularly over the report on the nine provinces issued in 1994/95.
The fourth area was dominated by the academia. They were largely active in
demographics and population projections.
The fifth force consisted of market researchers and the Bureau of Market Research
was the predominant force specialising in particular, in income and expenditure
surveys. They were also very active in the homelands.
The sixth institution was the statistics offices of the homelands themselves with
varying levels of effectiveness. Their focus was largely to inform the sharing of the
Customs Revenue Pool and the running of censuses.
The official body, the then CSS, focused on a minority of less than five million as
opposed to the forty three million to which Stats SA has to deliver on. Given this history
of fragmentation, there is the need for a level headed and deliberate process that aims at
systems consolidation at the product, service, solution and institutional level.
6.10.3 The RDP
In an effort to deal with the challenges outlined above, in 1994 Cabinet agreed that every
program and project in the government should have a business plan. Such a business
plan would stipulate what the government or department seeks to attain, as well as the
means of doing so. Included in the package were cost structures and costs as well as
identifying beneficiaries. More importantly the proposals should define in concrete terms
how the project or program is connected to the government overall goals set out in the
Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) white paper, the Constitution, and
other legislative arrangements and priorities.
Quite clearly, complying with the Cabinet decision implied having a battery of
information at different layers of government, geography and at different levels of
program, project, and or activity. The test for implementation was how government
departments would respond to the first hundred days, which amongst others identified the
following goals: Access to medical care for all pregnant women, universal education for
children of school going age, feeding scheme at primary schools, electrification of areas
that did not have electricity and provision of water and sanitation. Furthermore, the
building of houses with the aim of reaching a million within five years was just about
being witnessed.
Ambitious and necessary was the programme. It was launched by the State President
with the aim of having a high profile impact while noting that addressing the inequities of
the past would take a while. The programme marked the ushering of a new government
that also focused on more profound long range plans that would come on line in
17
subsequent years. The officials were quite eager to plan and implement but were
confronted with several challenges.
6.10.4 Information and Data challenges
The first challenge for the South African government official was the identification of
these “scientifically” valid measures and the development of some socio-political and
business consensus of their utility as acceptable measures of phenomena in question. The
second problem was lack of information and data that could lend itself to enable planning
at sub-national levels, i.e., at the local level. The local economic plans lacked basic data
and this made planning very difficult to undertake, beyond mere statements of intent.
Faced with not only an unsympathetic bureaucracy, but one which had no vision on the
information needs of society made the work of the new political and bureaucratic
incumbents unenviable. Fellegi commenting on systems of measurement and indicators
notes that “It is through the political process that democratic societies achieve social
consensus in indicator domains that are intrinsically judgmental.”13 Italics are the
author’s.
6.10.5 Limitations of attempts for meeting data and indicator needs
“Central to assessing the business plan and evaluating the extent to which the government
in general, department and sub units of department in particular attain their goals simply
whether they do what they are supposed to do, a system of accountability was proposed
and agreed upon, which entail: the identification of measurable goals; the identification
of measurement or indicators of success or failure in attainment of the goals; and some
way of measuring the extent, prevalence, dimensions, and growth and consequence of a
particular problem such as poverty or ill health, unemployment, crime rate, etc.”14
6.10.5.1
Training for technology instead
Early attempts to address not only indicators and their systems, but more importantly,
rudimentary data needs, focused on information technology instead of dealing with
substantive content issues that address systems of indicators. These issues would be
amongst others, the choice of indicators, what they are, how should they be compiled,
what quality and methodological principles should be observed, periodicity of their
generation, institutional arrangements for their compilation, infrastructure required,
funding considerations and building consensus on them. It therefore came as no surprise
that this gallant effort by the officials in the RDP office never generated the indicator
framework it was supposed to. A training programme whose initial cost estimates ran to
about R9 million was undertaken by ESKOM for officials of government and CASE
tools were applied by King information consultants who taught participants one-to-many
and many-to-one, how to develop relational databases, the importance of Joint
13
14
Statistical methods discussion papers and new surveys on poverty and low income, Statistics Canada September 1997
Operational evaluation unit: The development and use of development indicators, Benny Mokaba, 1995
18
Application Development (JAD) and object orientation. This training while important in
its own right for a different audience indeed missed point.
6.10.5.2
Good idea bad timing
With the benefit of hindsight, one can argue that not only was this approach unwise, its
timing was wrong. The approach was unwise in that it did not start with what the data
needs of government for development were. Instead it focused on the electronic
management of things that did not conceptually exist or had not been adequately
discussed and understood. The implementation process of the training was also fraught
with timing difficulties. Staff who attended what largely appeared to be addressing
technology, were trained without any possibilities of guarantees that they were the most
likely to be in the planning and monitoring offices of the new government. At the time
the training was implemented the restructuring had just begun in earnest. Uncertainty
was running rampant both amongst the old guard who were seeing their way out and
negotiating packages and golden hand shakes, and the new bureaucrats who came in, sure
of a place but not certain about the area they would occupy. The Statistics organisation,
which supposedly is the main cradle for development information was in bad shape and
intransigent to change, did not even participate in the training.
6.10.5.3
Nomenclature: Talking past one another
The third level of problems was the nomenclature and use of terminology, which on the
face of it may appear to be trivia, especially challenged by major development issues of
brick and mortar, medicines and food terminology and language, become the last thing to
argue about. Mokaba notes that “most of the confusion in government language between
what is a project, program or simply a task emanate from the multiplicity of levels at
which each of the speakers may be operating from. This was clearly indicated by the
confusion around the Katorus Presidential Lead Project or program. To the province and
the local unit the Katorus operation was a R600 million program consisting of various
elements of capacity building, infrastructure development, local government, and safety
and security. Bu to the office of the president and to the minister without portfolio and
surely for the president, Katorus was just a project, one of the projects that comprise the
total urban redevelopment program.”15
Perhaps even more confusion about the empirical referent of the word program in the
GNU is the use of the term in budgetary process to refer to the health services of South
Africa as a sectoral program and the Reconstruction and Development Program or the
National Works Program.”16
6.10.5.4
Subtle turf battles and procrastination
The fourth level problem consisted of subtle battles over turf, posturing and thereby
precipitating fragmentation by the information producers. While the new government
15
16
Operational evaluation unit: The development and use of development indicators, Benny Mokaba, 1995
Republic of South Africa: Budget Review 15 March 1995
19
noted that there was serious paucity of information, there was not a visible effort to
prioritise statistics and possibly improve the situation, instead private sector initiatives
and individual departmental efforts helplessly attempted to address these data and
information requirements and needs. The Central Statistical Service, like the Human
Sciences Research Council, for historical reasons found themselves as passive observers
in the scramble for providing information. Amongst the more active in the information
arena, were the CSIR, who supplied the data for what was to be popularly coined as
spatial development initiatives (SDI’s) which identified corridors with development
potential. Another major source of information was the SALDRU study, which provided
socio-economic data but much more at a macro level while data requirements for
planning in the instance of the RDP, are often times needed at a more local level. The
DBSA at the time had produced an information document on the nine provinces and was
playing an active role as an information supplier. The Central Statistics Services came
rather late to the party and was less of a welcomed member because it indeed was
intransigent and or lacked the profound understanding and appreciation of the central role
it had to play in a changing society. In direct competition with the DBSA, they produced
provincial profiles. The stage was adequately muddied by bits of inadequate information
and posturing in the information arena.
6.10.5.5
Resistance and lack of institutional and legal framework for
implementing
The fifth problem was resistance from the old guard and those who sympathised with
them. The sixth was the lack of an institutional and legal framework within which plans
could be implemented. The Tender Board was often mentioned as the biggest stumbling
block hampering delivery. Geographically, the settlements were still divided and without
the existence of seamless local government structures, implementation was to remain the
biggest challenge, particularly for the priority areas that were identified by the RDP and
the first 100 days.
6.10.5.5
Lack of statistical leadership and vision
The sixth and biggest problem perhaps that faced the statistics system in South Africa
before democracy, and in the first six years of democratic existence, was the lack of
vision for a national statistics system. The focus in the six years of democracy focused
on operational effectiveness to the exclusion of an overall strategic framework that
determines “why official statistics.”
6.10.5.6
Lack of co-ordination of national priorities
The seventh problem that made it difficult to have an effective statistics system was the
absence of the digestive capacity to interpret government policies and priorities and
appropriate them in a systematic way, where sequencing of processes determine how
priorities interlock in a self supporting way. There is a sense that with the demise of
central planning in the Eastern Block, South Africa tended to skirt around the issue of coordination and probably got to the point of almost loathing it. Statistics in general,
20
responds to policy. The value chain of information starts with defining a purpose in life
for a country, and then locating and describing ways of implementation and finally
instituting measures of verification. It is in the terrain of verification that official
statistics become important. Statistics are a rudder that guides policy formulation,
monitors implementation and measures as well as evaluates performance. So they serve
a client who is the policy maker and those who implement it. One key pitfall from the
experiences of the RDP Office was to subscribe to being lean as a virtue without
assessing the capacity required for organising issues of state and governance. The lean
and mean philosophy while virtuous, requires to be contexualised. The current efforts by
the cluster system to strengthen the centre of government have just begun to address
issues of co-ordination and effectiveness at the level of strategy and possibly redress the
limitations of the RDP office.
The arena of statistics as it existed and continues to exist, consists of a system that
produces what the office best thought was good for government and the stakeholders.
However, the office has recognised that it continued to inform at a tangent, lacked a
system of indicators and missed the audience. South Africa has not been alone in this
dilemma of wandering in statistical wilderness as the series of case studies illustrates. It
was battling with problems of a unique nature and these were very country specific.
6.10.7 The watershed meeting on statistics system (the North West axis)
In October 1994, the provincial government of the North West hosted a watershed
meeting which emanated as a sequel of meetings that the North West hosted bilaterally
with all nine provinces and jointly with the then FOSAD equivalent, on the future of
national statistics in South Africa. The meeting was attended by all RDP offices and the
provincial and local government representatives as well as national ministries.
Although the CSS was invited, they declined to participate as they believed that their
transformation process was on course and the planning workshop was inadvisable. A
key resolution of the meeting, communicated to both the CSS and the RDP office was
that the organisation needed serious surgery including advertising the top position of head
of the organisation. Census ‘96 was discussed extensively and implementation plans
were also looked into. The conclusion was that the census was in jeopardy and a
recommendation for an assessment mission for readiness was made. The mission was
conducted and resolved that the census be postponed by six months and be headed by a
different individual to the then incumbent. The meeting also discussed the geography of
the country and the need to re-organise the geo-political and economic space of South
Africa. This could be viewed as the pre-cursor to the Demarcation Board. On national
accounts, the meeting resolved that the CSS had to be strengthened in order to take
charge of both sides of the national account. This is in order to eliminate the moral
hazard of a policy department, in this case the South African Reserve Bank, (SARB),
handling national accounts statistics, i.e., rendering the bank the role of referee and
player. On the CPI, the meeting resolved that there is need to collect information for the
compilation of CPI for the rural areas so as to have a targeted handle on how the rural
communities get affected by price changes. It was further indicated that the CPI in the
21
way it is collated cannot be representative and required revamping. It covered only 14
urban areas. More fundamentally the meeting resolved on the creation and funding of a
national statistics system and strengthening training of cadets who would participate in
the system. Lastly the workshop appealed for a more representative Statistics Council.
This workshop was amongst the first few to attempt a strategic focus on the provision of
statistics in South Africa.
The North West administrative and political leadership axis jointly with the RDP office,
provided the space for challenging quite successfully what was becoming a myopic selfserving statistical hegemony based in Pretoria. This led to visible changes at the Central
Statistical Services from July 1995 and subsequent improvements in timeliness and
quality, the latter albeit gradual and problematic.
This workshop offers South Africa a golden opportunity to act strategically in terms of
managing statistics. If there is anything to learn from Australia, Canada and more
recently Mozambique and Uganda, it is ways of providing a strategic framework for the
management of statistics and methods of operationalising these activities within this
framework. From the ABS we can learn that: a “strategic management process delivers
ever changing strategies which move the ABS in the directions set by the objectives in
the plan. Some strategies in the plan will not be fully realised; on the other hand, new
strategies will emerge from across the organisation and be implemented. The success of
this process depends on how well these directions are understood, accepted and pursued
by all staff.”17
6.10.8 The 1996 Census
Hopes were pinned on the 1996 Census results, however, these brewed their own
controversy, particularly the preliminary results which suggested that we were not as
many as we usually thought. The release of a final result that was two million people
more did not help to build the image of the organisation.
The census has largely helped to ameliorate the paucity of data for planning. However,
the worst government wide mistake committed was the selling of the data. While the
price per dataset was not prohibitive, the notion of selling turned departments and users
off as they saw this practice as unorthodox and ran counter co-operative governance.
Besides, it was argued that the census had already been paid for by the fiscus. The facts
facing Statistics South Africa were however that, they had to balance their budget and the
sale of data to recover R 7million was real. Government was ruthlessly chasing the
reduction of government deficit and any over-expenditure was dealt with ruthless
discipline. This era brought about discipline and reduced the deficit to levels that are
unprecedented across government. The abrupt discontinuation of the October Household
Survey programme is bound to create discontinuities in the ability of government to
measure progress. Ad hoc implementation of surveys mitigates against any notion of
statistical dependability in the future. The leadership of the country has begun to apply
pressure on the statistical system and require it to deliver.
17
Corporate plan for the ABS
22
6.10.9 Political leadership and statistical challenges
In the January 2002 Cabinet Lekgotla, after an extended discussion on communication,
the Lekgotla focused on what it is that is to be communicated, i.e., the content of
communication. It was concluded that such content will be of a nature of facts and
figures, i.e., of a statistical nature. The President in the same Lekgotla alluded to the
desire to paint a picture of seven years of democracy. Such a picture depends on the
indicators to be provided by the statistical system.
In the last two State of the Nation Addresses that the President made, I have noted that in
2001, only two sets of statistics out of the five that were used came from Statistics South
Africa. In the State of the Nation Address of 2002, none of the figures coming from
Statistics South Africa were used. The question that this state of affairs begs is how
relevant is the organisation, how accessible are the statistics it produces and what is the
level of public trust the statistics are accorded.
In the same Cabinet Lekgotla, as already indicated elsewhere in the paper, the President
gave a clear instruction to have the national statistics system to work and deliver.
Furthermore, in an encounter of the Directors General with the President, of the four
agenda items tabled, one was on statistics. There is no doubt that at the highest level of
political authority, statistics are not only viewed as important, but are urgently required
for managing public affairs. If you can’t measure it you cannot manage it.
The Minister of Finance has posed questions on the veracity of statistics and what he sees
is that they fail to add up. He has called upon the organisation to embark on an agenda
for improvement.
The conclusion one draws from this series of interventions is that there is political will
and leadership to get the statistics of this country on a sound footing. What is needed is
for the bureaucracy to locate its position within the already established value chain and
align its strategy. This workshop guides such positioning.
6.10.10
Agenda for statistical improvement
By 1999, Parliament passed the Statistics Act, Act 6 of 1999 which empowered the
Statistician General to co-ordinate official statistics. The Act also raised the level of
authority of the organisation. In November 2000, a Statistician General was appointed.
The new leadership has focused on improving leadership and changing management
practices. The drive has been towards a flatter structure, promoting a learning
organisation and allowing lateral information flows. Managing and encouraging
exchange of experiences and personnel on the continent has witnessed a commendable
measure of success.
Following this appointment, several sessions have been held with the Statistics Council
on the agenda for improving statistics and clarifying roles and responsibilities of Council
23
in relation to Statistics South Africa in general and the National Statistics System in
particular.
By January 2001 a document on the creation of a national statistics system was tabled
before FOSAD for consideration and FOSAD adopted it. By September 2001 working
teams for the NSS were established and by February 2002 a fully functional NSS unit
was established in Statistics South Africa. Within a few months of it being operational,
cross-departmental work teams have been established and a strategy document on the
NSS has been prepared and adopted by the FOSAD meeting of November 2001. In
conjunction with the Presidency, Statistics South Africa will lead the implementation of
the NSS and this indicator framework workshop provides an opportunity for users,
producers and suppliers to exchange views on priorities. A series of bilateral meetings
with departments have been rolled out since February 2002 and will continue. Included in
these meetings, we focused training of staff in government departments on the use of data
holdings that Stats SA possesses.
A quality and methodology team has been set up at Statistics South Africa to monitor,
advise and ensure that quality is not only implemented but is seen to be done. A
systematic process of browsing through each series and identifying areas for
improvement has begun. For instance preparations are afoot to look at Census ‘96 and
confront it with that of 2001 even before Census 2001 yields results.
A rigorous statistical training programme has begun. Up to 32 members of staff are
studying statistical techniques with 22 of them being fulltime. The organisation has set
aside about 3% of its total budget for statistical training and commits to at least each staff
member receiving a minimum of six days training a year. Furthermore the organisation
has set aside R1 million for appointment of internships for periods not exceeding three
months. On the people with disabilities, we have moved deliberately to increase our
intake, particularly in data processing and jointly with the department of labour have
conducted a very successful training that has brought people with disabilities on board
with competencies that meet requirements.
We have started a profound programme for promoting statistical literacy as a means of
achieving economic literacy. To this end, in conjunction with the Department of
Education and SAMDI we are developing materials from the census, especially the
census at schools for training pupils in the handling of data.
The organisation leads the pack in adopting state of the art technology, especially in data
processing. The challenge is that of integrating disparate systems into one seamless data
holding with interfaces to the user community.
On the agenda at the turn of the century are challenges of measurement on causes of
death. Extent and nature of crime, measurement of incidence and prevalence of
HIV/AIDS, patterns and levels of enrolment, especially within the context of declining
number of pupils sitting matric exams. Employment statistics are being revamped
through the use of better sampling scheme.
24
Notable improvements and collaboration is being made on the GIS as a corporate asset
for South Africa incorporated.
6.10.11
Conclusion
In South Africa, the first five years of statistical freedom can be noted for what could best
be termed as the “data spaghetti era” as well as profound lack of common vision on the
nature and direction of the statistics system. There was relentless focus on operational
effectiveness with less attention on strategy and direction in which the organisation and
the system were to move. A less favourable resource base for building statistical
infrastructure hampered rapid development of the organisation. Some series like the
October Household Survey, had to be abandoned because of funding problems and have
been replaced by yet an important series, the labour force survey which does not
however, cover the extent and modules included in the OHS. The political leadership is
fully aware of the need for improving the statistics system and indeed has elevated the
status of the organisation to the level of a fully fledged department. However, as can be
seen in the case of successful statistics systems, these systems take a while to develop,
they consume resources as collections to inform increase in number, and they succeed
where training is life long. Without strategic management a statistics organisation cannot
survive. For South Africa, it appears that like in Mozambique and Uganda, the political
leadership has resolved to actively support the coming in to being of the institution.
7.0
The to do’s
From the country studies we can learn that there are several “to do’s” for the
improvement of the statistics system in South Africa. Below is the list that I trust could
guide resolutions that can be implemented:















Auditing the system and its current products;
Producing a strategic plan with key deliverables, identified beneficiaries, costs of not
having a national statistics system and associated resource inputs;
Adopting a planning and implementation framework;
Ensuring that statistics are of good quality;
Implementing peer review for production;
Recommitting the work teams to the improvement agenda;
Delivering an indicator template and indicators;
Delivering a picture for the seven years of democracy;
Building the infrastructure for production of statistics, such as field operations;
Training staff and allowing for fulltime study from time to time;
Agreeing on series to be collated;
Establishing funding stability for statistical series;
Speeding up the expansionary route for statistics and funding it at least to the
requisite levels;
Producing time frames against programmes;
Implementing the fourteen-point action plan.
25