The Parliament’s Committee on Appropriations has rallied behind Statistician-General, Risenga Maluleke, in the quest for R295 million to keep the entity afloat amidst budget cuts that have reduced its capacity to perform its duties.
Speaking after a meeting of economic cluster ministers with members of the committee, Standing Committee on Appropriations chairperson, Mmusi Maimane, said robust engagement with Maluleke showed the committee how important the work of Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) was in informing what policy decisions to take, what budget allocations to give to the various municipalities, provinces, nationally and ultimately defined the long term objectives of the country.
“I found Maluleke truly a servant of the people and we found the engagement robust in how they shared the integrity of the Census and ultimately the demand now for funding to go into StatsSA,” Maimane said.
“The reality of it is that as StatsSA sits at the moment, it is losing critical staff, losing financial sustainability. It is up to this committee to fight and if more people leave StatsSA, it risks collapsing and then StatsSA becomes a political tool. Lets fight together to find R295 million to be able to stabilise StatsSA.”
This comes as the Democratic Alliance (DA) - through MP Darren Bergman post the meeting - called on Maluleke to resign for his admission that the entity was in “significant trouble” and on the verge of collapse following severe budgetary constraints, staff losses, and mismanagement.
Bergman, who said StatsSA’s resources and operations had to be removed from the “super” Presidency, also called on Maluleke to step aside from his position, having served from 2017 and overseen Census 2022.
“He has demonstrated a lack of transparency and integrity, having failed to be forthright with the country. He consistently misled the public on the integrity of the Census,” Bergman said in a statement yesterday.
“He ignored valid concerns from academics and covered up flaws in Census 2022, which has compromised the credibility of crucial national data.
“The flawed Census 2022 data is already affecting the equitable share allocations for national government, provincial governments and municipalities. Treasury’s reliance on this disputed data to calculate these allocations poses a serious risk to fair and just distribution of resources.”
Maluleke, who stood by the results of the 2022 Census because proper international standards and methodology had been used, also responded to a question filed by the DA’s Katherine Alexandra Christie earlier this month.
Christie had asked the Minister in The Presidency whether, in light of the undercounts and data exclusions that occurred during Census 2022, StatsSA has put any mechanisms in place to mitigate the specified challenges and improve its data quality for future censuses.
Maluleke said StatsSA stood firmly by its Census 2022 data despite facing several challenges.
He highlighted several pressing issues, such as budget constraints, vacancy rates, and questions regarding the credibility of its data, and said it was not the first time its data had been challenged.
Maluleke reported that the high vacancy rates of 21% and that inability to fill critical positions had significantly impacted staff morale.
The Standing Committee expressed concerns that high vacancy rates could fuel perceptions that the entity produced unreliable data and recommended that StatsSA establish closer working relationships with university professors and the private sector to address these challenges.
The committee said urgent funding of StatsSA of around R295m was needed to stabilise the entity.
In his presentation to the committee, Maluleke pointed out that StatsSA staff complement had declined from 3 555 people in 2014, to 3 301 in the current year, with a total vacancy of 689 posts, saying “warm bodies are not affordable”.
Maluleke outlined that filled posts decreased from 3 219 in 2014 to 2 612 in the current year while a freeze on appointments was made from the 2016/2017 financial year to 2021/2022 and also effected in September 2023 to-date.
Outlining the budget cuts, Maluleke said in the 2014/15 financial year, R3.7m was cut off, R28m in the 2015/16 fiscus, R18.8m in the following year, and ultimately R320m in the 2020/21 year leading to the census.
He said in 2023/24 fiscal year, the entity came up R48m short and R176.8m in the 2024/25 fiscal budget. It anticipates a cut of R193.5m in the 2025/26 year and R195.4m in the 2026/27 year.
Maluleke said StatsSA had cut down on the 270 products it had to produce and focused its funds on the bare necessities.
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