Statistician General, Mr Pali Lehohla
DG of the Province, Adv Justice Bekebeke
Distinguished guest
Ladies and Gentlemen

It gives me great pleasure to join you this morning in accepting Stats SA report that we will have to study, share with our people and use in building sustainable livelihoods for the people of the Province and the country.

When we embarked 18 years ago along the path of peace, unity and freedom, our central mission as a country and nation was to build a better life for all our people. This we have done in pursuit of our urgent need for accurate, reliable information, so that our plans as government should be based on the real situation.

A census under any circumstances is a mammoth task. As a country, we have been able to organise a unified national census from a system that fragmented every aspect of social, political life.

We should therefore as a Province join the many leaders of our country led by the President in saying thank you to all the men and women who made it possible, the many volunteers who braved all weather conditions in ensuring that as government we have detailed, reliable, accurate data about our people which can be used for planning to achieve our shared goals.

It will take time to absorb the full detail of the intricate picture of our complex society. But the broad outlines should act as a clarion call to rededicate ourselves, in every sector of society to the historic mission of a generation charged with transforming South African society in order to deal with poverty and imbalances that derive from our painful past.

The release of Census 2012 follows closely on the adoption of the National Development Plan 2030. The results of Census 2012 provides a formidable basis to enhance credible planning and budgeting as the country moves towards the realisation of outputs articulated in the National Development Plan. The province’s  capabilities for sound planning is therefore greatly enhanced going forward. 

It therefore becomes crucial that the three spheres of government must use the Census 2012 results to strengthen their co-governance to expedite the fight against the scourge of unemployment, poverty and inequality in the country. Failure is not an option in this regards lest history judge us harshly.

More importantly, this information will allow for more structured engagements between government and society, more focused research and quality cabinet interactions.

In the context of our Province, this report will help us as government to deal with complex issues affecting our varied communities and also give us insight in terms of how we can improve and fast-track quality services to our people. We will use this report to benchmark our performance as government but also to build on the gains we have achieved in terms of provision of clean water, electricity, schooling, health, poverty eradication, job creation, policing to our people.

Programme Director, statistics plays a vital role in every field of human activity and in determining the existing position of per capita income, unemployment, population growth rate, housing, schooling, medical facilities etc. Statistics have proven to hold a central position in almost every field like Industry, Commerce, Trade, Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Economics, Biology, Mathematics, Astronomy etc, quite clearly the application of statistics is very wide and critical for human survival.

As we ponder on this report, there must be a shared understanding of where we come from so that we collectively embark on a path of reconstructing our Province, reconciliation; nation-building and development. We hope that the report will strengthen our resolve as citizens, private and public partnerships to work together with government in using the information wisely in planning for the extension of much needed services.

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to extend my appreciation to the SG, Mr Lehohla and his team for the hard work, dedication and commitment to serving our people.

Honoured Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my honour and privilege to receive the report of census 2012 for use by all!

I thank you.