- Title: C E N S U S '96: INTERVIEW: DR GAVIN LEWIS [RDP EXPERT]
- Date: 6th November 1996
- Summary: C E N S U S '96: INTERVIEW: DR GAVIN LEWIS [RDP EXPERT]
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- City: CRAIGHALL JHB
- Country: South Africa
- Reuters ID: 96NOV06R01
- Story Text:CENSUS '96:
07.28.30 INTERVIEW: DR GAVIN LEWIS: HOW DOES THE CENSUS HELP THE RDP? It's an essential part in the sense that we don't actually know how many people there are in the country...racially segregated census...population movement...
07.29.02 ...we don't know which areas are growing and which are shrinking. There has been a dramatic rise in illegaal immigration...effects facilities eg schools, clinics...
07.29.20 ...some areas have been much more affected by illegal immigration and the census can help us identify which are the areas most in need.
07.29.29 THE RESULTS WILL BE ACCURATE? ...will be reasonbly accurate. There will always be problems in the sense that if you're an illegal immigrant, it's a difficult thing to admit that you are, but the fact that this time it's a door-to-door census rather than an aerial survey...should make it considerably more accurate...about 80%.
07.29.52 RE: COUNTING GANGSTERS - EARNINGS...I don't see any problem in counting people who are involved in crime because you don't have to put that on the census form. On the earnings issue yes...most people particularly those people who would be earning a fair amount of money would be inclined to downplay their income for obvious reasons...we'll probably get an underestimate there on the income especially on the higher brackets the lower brackets should be more accurate.
07.30.27 DO YOU KNOW OF ANY OTHER CENSUS IN AFRICA?
...this level of investment...R365 million just for the census...
07.30.47 ...I think it's unique in the continent i.t.o scale and comprehensiveness.
07.30.53 CAN YOU INDICATE WHETHER THEY WERE TRULY HELPFUL FOR THE FUTURE PLANNING? It's essential because you can't begin calculate what sort of social services & infrastructure you need unless you how many people there are in the country.
07.31.05 HOW SUCCESSFUL HAS OUR CENSUS REALLY BEEN? Yes there have been problems. In one area where the innumerators... are by definition only temporary staff, si it's impossible to train them to the extent that one would need for a really professional census & there have been reports of forms not being collected...houses that haven't been visited and I still think relative to what we had before, this is a very useful excercise, probably about 80% on target.
07.31.55 DO YOU THINK WE SHOULD HAVE A PERMANENT CENSUS OFFICE OR INSTITUTION?
07.32.17 SET-UP SHOTS WALKING AROUNDIN GARDEN - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
