2024/2025 Budget Debate Speech by Minister in The Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, on the occasion of Stats SA Vote 14 Debate, Cape Town

Honourable House Chairperson,
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Honourable Theliswa Mgweba,
Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Honourable Kenny Morolong,
Deputy Minister in The Presidency, Honourable Nonceba Mhlauli,
Honourable Members of the of the Portfolio Committee on Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation,
The Statistician General Mr. Risenga Maluleke and his team Members of the South African Statistics Council under the leadership Dr Nompumelelo Nzimande-Mbele,

Fellow South Africans,

It is my honour to present the Budget Vote 14 for the outer year of the 2019-2024 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) as we conclude work started in the 6th Administration and consolidate a programme for the Seventh Administration under a Government of National Unity.

I share this occasion with a new and young Deputy Minister, Honourable Nonceba Mhlauli, which is a demonstration of continuity, change, and inter-generational leadership, ‘living together in perfect harmony’, as Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney sang.

It is also an honour to make this presentation in the year in which we are reflecting on 30 Years of Democracy, Partnership and Growth in the life of a nation that remains engaged in overcoming the impact of centuries of colonialism and decades of apartheid exclusionary rule. It was the work of Statistics South Africa that gave this country and the world a snapshot of the progress this country has made and the challenges which remain since 1994 through the Census 2022 Results.

As we commence with work of the 7th Administration and the next 30 years of our freedom, it will be important to address the challenges that still confront us with greater performance and momentum. Guesswork and assumptions have no place in the task at hand.

Instead, it is statistical data and information that will give us insights into the nation’s needs and achievements and will help us monitor and evaluate the effectiveness and outcomes of government policies and programmes. For us, it is fundamental to declare that Data Drives Development.

Therefore, understanding and managing the data ecosystem is crucial for the country to harness the full potential of data, make informed decisions, and adapt to evolving business landscapes. This will be achieved through collaboration, partnerships and platforms. Stats SA must continue to lead in the South African data ecosystem, to ensure that the data gap is closed.

Honourable Chairperson,

Those of us who have followed StatsSA products releases would agree with me that statistical data is indicating that our economy is three times larger and many times more inclusive and diversified than it was 30 years ago, millions of citizens have been lifted out of poverty, and employment has more than doubled. Despite this progress, millions remain unemployed, in particular, the youth who are caught in structural unemployment where the qualifications they possess are not relevant for the job market nor self-employment.

For South Africa to reach its developmental goals as espoused in the National Development Plan (NDP), there is a need to use data and statistical information to not only improve the performance of government, but all of society. Therefore, there cannot be a spectator sport for the nation – we’re all in this together, as Cast –High School Musical sang.

As a government that considers itself to be located within our communities and society, we will work with all sectors to secure the growth, security and prosperity all of us wish to enjoy in our lifetime and into the future.

Therefore, StatsSA will be one of our key institutional assets on this quest for a better future. This asset, Stats SA, is a jewel in the crown of the capacity of the state and its rigour and integrity is globally respected. Stats SA itself has a productive, intergenerational mix of experience and institutional memory alongside the energy and innovation that comes with a cohort of statisticians and other professionals who were born and educated in this democratic dispensation.

The insights developed by Stats SA are a model of democratic transparency in action: statistical information is available at all levels of society including business, government, academia, Parliament, civil society, schools and the public at large – including millions of users around the world who can access our numbers and narratives online.

For the richness of Stats SA’s outputs, we are deeply indebted to the millions of South Africans who trustingly and graciously share their information and time with us so we can have numerical picture of the nation as it goes about living and working.

Honourable Members,

Stats SA’s 2024/25 Work Programme reflects our drive to deliver the statistics that the country needs and can apply to build a better South Africa.

A key strategic deliverable of this is the legislative reform with the Statistics Amendment Bill which was finalised by the 6th Administration and passed by the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces in May 2024. It now awaits Presidential assent.

Stats SA delivered the results of the first digital census to the nation in October 2023. The population census offers us the most comprehensive set of statistical information to the lowest geographic level.

Allow me Chairperson to quote the President of the Republic of South Africa, his Excellency Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa, at the launch of Census 2022 results where he said: “Data from the Census informs the planning, budgeting and policy making work of government at the most fundamental level, furthermore one of our priorities in a capable, ethical developmental state is to ensure that policy making is evidence-driven”.

Stats SA has embarked on a comprehensive dissemination process to inform each province and district of the Census 2022 results. Various thematic reports based on the census data will be released during 2024 to better inform policy and decision making.

I encourage all of us to use this data to get to know the needs of our constituencies and to use the information to improve the lives of our people.

Honourable members,

As a country we are still faced with the triple challenge of poverty, inequality and unemployment. As policy-makers, we need to know and understand the scale, the characteristics and the root cause of the challenges that face us.

To this end, I am pleased to inform the House that Stats SA has completed the data collection phase of the Income and Expenditure survey that collects data on the poverty situation in the country. The results of the survey will be published in the 3rd quarter of 2024.

Under the 2024/25 Work Programme, Stats SA plans to re-engineer the household survey programme through the introduction of a continuous population survey that aims to integrate various household surveys to improve efficiency and effectiveness of data collection. This modular survey will provide lower-level data on specific themes to inform the district development model.

Chairperson, I am also pleased to announce that as part of the economic statistics suite, Stats SA will publish for the first time the official Residential Property Price Index for South Africa during 2024/25.

Honourable members,

Stats SA has set an ambitious 5-year strategic plan with a long-term horizon and vision of Improving lives through data ecosystems.

The strategy path is guided by four strategic outcomes to elevate statistical development in this country, namely:

• Insightful data - providing statistical products and outputs that meets the needs of users that brings deeper insight for informed decisions.

• Creating an Agile operating model where business operations are lean, efficient and flexible in order to remain stable in turbulent times.

• Creating an Interconnected statistical system where people, systems and technology are interconnected.

• Lastly, Transforming the capability of the organisation and the statistics system at large. Building a workforce that is fit for the future is a critical priority for the organisation.

The 2024/25 Work Programme is the final performance plan to deliver on the 5-year Strategic Plan that was tabled in 2020. The organisation has continued to fulfil its mandate for the last four years despite significant disruptions, including the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters, and tight financial conditions, to name a few.

Honourable Members,

We need to continue to support Stats SA and ensure it plays a pivotal role in providing critical socio-economic data that informs decision making across government and business broadly.

Official statistics must remain free from any interference on statistical methods applied, to data collection, and the content and timing of releases. Our official statistics must be planned, collected and disseminated without prejudice, fear or favour. Our standing as a nation — and as a country — is intertwined with the successful and democratic uptake of statistics.

I therefore implore this House to become ambassadors of Stats SA’s work and to continue to be ardent users of official statistics.

We are aware of the budget constraints that all government departments currently face, but we cannot allow it to negatively impact the publication of information crucial to policy and planning. To this end, Stats SA continues to embrace the use of technology in easing both the collection and dissemination of statistics. Over the medium-term, the organisation will be looking at innovative ways of integrating administrative data into the overall system of statistics, to ensure that the data gap can be filled cost-effectively.

The Compensation of Employees budget allocation remains a challenge. We will continue to engage National Treasury to see how best we can stabilise the funding.

Honourable Chairperson,

• The Public Finance Management Act, section 27, compels the Minster to annually table this budget and it is my honour to deliver Vote 14,

• the MTEF is R2.65 billion in 2024/25; and R 2.75 billion and R2.89 billion in the 2025/26 and 2026/27 financial years respectively.

• We request Parliament to support the budget vote of Statistics South Africa.

As a country that is fully integrated into global society, we know that digital forces are transforming our world in the digital economy. This disruption will lead to emerging new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), with connected devices and smart chatbots to the metaverse where citizens are connected and interact with government and themselves seamlessly. Harnessing AI to solve South Africa’s problems requires embracing it from an African perspective.

Disruptions can propel a nation to new levels of efficiency that can change the lives of the poor and disenfranchised. When such opportunities present itself, the test to the nation’s strength is how its leadership acts with agility to attend to the challenges at hand.

To enable long-term, sustainable, and inclusive growth, we must work together as a nation as we strengthen our resilience to propel beyond what was possible before. The StatsSA demonstrated this resilience and agility, when it adopted a digital census when confronted with the COVID-19 pandemic when the alternative was to abandon the census count like many other countries did.

As previously stated, the importance of numbers to harness leadership’s ability to lead in a new era cannot be overstated. It is more important than ever that our thinking, planning and policy responses be informed by reliable evidence to achieve better outcomes for this nation in a transformed digital era.

I want to take this opportunity to -

Thank the Portfolio Committee on Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation as well as the Select Committee on Health and Social Services;

Thank the staff and leadership of Stats SA, under the charge of the StatisticianGeneral, Risenga Maluleke and the South African Statistics Council who continue to deliver on the mandate of Stats SA. 

As I say Thank You, let me invite all of us to make continued and greater use of Stats SA insights to understand and participate in the ever-unfolding story of our country.

Ndi a livhuwa.
Hakhensa - inkomo.
Kea leboga.