CAPE TOWN - The Western Cape could lose funding equivalent to 1 615 doctors or 5 981 nurses and more than 9 300 teachers if only 70% of residents get counted in the 2022 Census.
This is according to projections by the Western Cape treasury, Premier Alan Winde said on Thursday.
“If this were to happen, it would severely undermine the quality of health care and education services that we provide, at a time when demand for services is ever more pressing,” Winde said.
Last week, StatSA announced it would continue to collect census data from households in the Western Cape for an additional two weeks, until May 14.
The extension follows concerns that residents in the province were not heeding the call to get counted. Stats SA had said over 600 000 households were yet to be visited.
“In money terms, we stand to lose R9.7 billion, or over 16% of our provincial equitable share, if only 70% of residents get counted. This would shave R2.6bn in funding off our health budget and R4.2bn off our education budget, with smaller departments also suffering losses. In short, service delivery in the Western Cape will suffer a major blow across the board if residents do not make sure they are counted,” Winde said.
“As of 8am this morning, with just 9 days to go until the count closes, StatsSA is not even within sight of a 70% count. They have counted just 61% of residents to date.”
While there was an increase in the number of persons counted, the numbers remained too low, Winde said.
“To put it simply, if we only manage to count 70% of the population, the available spending per person would be reduced by more than R1 300 per person per annum in the provincial equitable share.”
“I reiterate my appeal to residents to use the extended census count period in the Western Cape to get counted,” Winde said.
Members of the public can complete the census questionnaire when visited by an official StatsSA Census counter; or online: getcounted.statssa.gov.za.
For enquiries, contact the census call centre for at 0800 110 248 or email [email protected].
Cape Times