EDITORIAL: Stats SA is chronically underfunded: that needs to change

The budget crisis at SA’s official statistics agency is a disgrace. Stats SA is tasked with running the surveys that provide crucial data used by policymakers and government departments to guide budget allocations and gauge the impact of their interventions. Without this information they are operating in the dark.

Last week statistician-general Risenga Maluleke presented figures to parliament showing the organisation’s budget had been slashed by more than 40% in the past three years and now stands at a mere R2.78bn, with only inflation-matching increases planned over the medium-term expenditure framework.

It consequently has a vacancy rate of almost 22% and is hobbled by outdated IT infrastructure. Moreover, key surveys have been cancelled or delayed.

Stats SA no longer runs a survey on commercial agriculture, has reduced the scope of its surveys on tourism and the non-financial census of municipalities, and its reports on mortality and causes of death are published so long after the event they are of questionable use to policymakers.

The organisation has unsurprisingly faced tough questions over the credibility its data, including Census 2022, which critics said contained such glaring anomalies it was virtually worthless, and its GDP figures for the third quarter of 2024, which Agri SA said had overstated a contraction in the agricultural sector.

Its delay in releasing the 2022/23 income and expenditure survey means the National Treasury has yet to update the formulas it uses to determine provincial and municipal budget allocations from the equitable share, which means towns and cities that have seen disproportionate population growth are being short-changed.

As management consultant Peter Drucker once said: “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” It is time for the Treasury to pay heed to the statistician-general’s appeal for more funding, and give Stats SA the money it needs to fulfil its mandate.