By REGINALD KANYANE
24 October 2024 – The Portfolio Committee on Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation met yesterday to receive a briefing from Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) and Brand South Africa on their annual report for the financial year 2023/24.
During the meeting, committee members highlighted the challenges faced by Stats SA in the context of South Africa’s socio-economic climate, stressing the need for improved efficiency and the potential exploration of partnerships with private service providers to enhance data collection processes.
The Chairperson of Portfolio Committee, Teliswa Mgweba said discussions amongst the committee members revolved around the reliability of the 2022 census results, with committee members highlighting the importance of accurate demographic data for effective government planning and resource allocation.
“Concerns were raised about the undercounting and biases in the data, particularly regarding mortality and labour statistics. The committee urged Stats SA to consider the release of these critical statistics to enable comparative analysis with existing data.
“The committee voiced its concerns regarding Stats SA’s financial challenges, particularly the absence of a Chief Financial Officer (CFO). The committee highlighted that maintaining an unqualified audit opinion will become increasingly difficult without a CFO as effective financial oversight and accountability are compromised,” she said.
Mgweba further said the matter needs to be addressed speedily to appoint a CFO or look into a secondment to ensure the organisation can navigate its financial landscape more effectively. She added that, the members discussed the necessity of fostering collaboration between Stats SA and the private sector to enhance data collection efforts.
“Suggestions included incentivising participation through business partnerships and potentially offering discounts or rewards to individuals who contribute data. A significant topic of discussion was the merger between Brand SA and Tourism South Africa.
“Some committee members were of the view that there was duplication within the two entities. The committee recognised the potential benefits of a merger in creating a unified approach to promoting the country’s image domestically and internationally,” said Mgweba.
Meanwhile, in its response, Brand SA said there is no duplication and that its mandate is quite clear from Tourism South Africa’s.
The Guardian 