Hon Speaker, hon Minister, the crucial information gleaned from this census - in your words, the "largest deployment of people in peacetime" - will not only be critical to the effective governance of our country, it will serve as a control to compare against the findings of your National Planning Commission diagnostic report and shape the compilation of our national plan.
The mechanics, logistics and collation of the sought-after information are as critical as the appropriate use of the outcomes. The DA supports unreservedly this herculean effort and the fact that the Minister referred to the "we". We, as the Democratic Alliance, pledge the support of every public representative at all three spheres of representation, without any reservation. The census ambassadors who have been selected are also key to the success of the census, and thus, having popular sportsmen and women and other high-profile figures on board, is very significant. We, as DA representatives, will augment this public outreach in every way possible.
The quality and veracity of the census information have profound consequences regarding the allocation of equitable-share funding. Our population's residential patterns are some of the most dynamic in the world and the global recession has compounded this migration phenomenon. There are two provinces that are the most sought-after migration destinations, namely Gauteng and the Western Cape. The populations of these provinces grow on a weekly basis far more than any other, due to this pattern of migration in search of opportunities and a better life. It is therefore of cardinal importance that every so often we get accurate and reliable population figures.
In the absence of this, these provinces are expected to provide service delivery miracles without the necessary financial means to do so. Others that still exist largely as labour reserves are left with more resources than are needed and they, coincidentally, are the provinces that perform worst against the national service delivery indicators and those of the Millennium Development Goals, such as the province that I come from, the Eastern Cape.
Minister, my appeal today is that the training of enumerators will be suitably comprehensive so that they will be able to competently acquit themselves of their important task; that they will be adequately resourced to gain access to every residence, from difficult-to-access cluster complexes and blocks of flats to far-flung rural villages and farms. The most difficult aspect of access to our homes, however, is the environment of fear and deep suspicion that our population has for strangers. We will collectively have to take responsibility for encouraging citizens to make themselves available to these identifiable enumerators in their yellow bibs. Unfortunately, though, these bibs are easily transferable from legitimate enumerators to criminal impostors, either by design or by criminal intent.
The accessibility of the census toll-free number is of the utmost importance and its integrity and rapid response will most certainly have to outperform, for an example, the Presidential Hotline. If it is to serve the intended purposes of allaying the fears of a suspicious citizenry, this hotline will have to be able to respond immediately to queries. It must be fully staffed with competent people at all times during the census, and the South African Police Service will also have to be placed on high alert during the census period.
The Democratic Alliance supports the census and recognises the myriad reasons for conducting this important exercise, and we wish the Minister and Statistics SA the very best success in this regard.