Finance minister Enoch Godongwana will later this month table the medium-term budget policy statement amid a severe cash crunch at Stats SA that threatens the quality of the vital data relied on by government, researchers and business alike.
The entity is labouring under the yoke of high vacancy rates and a shrinking operational budget, which it says have direct and adverse implications for its functioning.
The state of the organisation’s finances is better crystallised by Nompumelelo Mbele, chair of the Statistics Council, a 25-member panel that signs off on national statistics.
“The council remains deeply concerned about the continued underfunding of Stats SA, an issue that was also raised by the preceding council and which has now reached a crisis point,” Mbele said in the key entity’s 2025 annual report.
“Despite innovative efforts to optimise the limited budget and maintain delivery of core statistical products, the ongoing financial constraints are significantly undermining Stats SA’s ability to fulfil its mandate.
“The council firmly believes that if Stats SA’s financial position is not addressed as a matter of urgency, it will not be able to fulfil its pivotal role as a leading entity in SA’s data ecosystem. The council strongly urges the government to assess the needs of Stats SA and to respond decisively and appropriately.”
The council led by Mbele was appointed last year.
The organisation’s cash crunch heightened in the 2024/25 financial year, when it could advertise only seven out of the more than 700 vacancies it had, with the country’s premium stats agency also contending with a lack of funding for investment in a modern, resilient ICT infrastructure and business modernisation.
The annual report lays bare the impact lack of requisite funding had on its operations in the year under review.
For example, in the economic data branch, which produces data such as GDP, the consumer price index and producer price index, the entity said the vacancy rate within the branch, linked with the loss of experienced staff, leaves the programme in a vulnerable position.
“The response rates of some surveys are gradually decreasing, instances of delays in publications are occurring, and the inherent quality of the data at a granular level needs improvement,” the report reads.
“There is no capacity to increase the scope of the current surveys, nor to introduce additional surveys that can measure emerging areas of economic activity and the environment. The implementation of newly adopted international frameworks and classifications will be delayed until capacity constraints are addressed.”
Similar challenges are faced by the population and social statistics branch, which is responsible for labour market, crime and poverty data, among other key data.
The statistical operations and provincial co-ordination branch, which is responsible for the census and household surveys, is also facing high vacancy rates and operational challenges.
In this branch, which operated at a 16% vacancy rate in the year under review, a situation compounded by the loss of skilled personnel is posing a “significant risk to the effective collection of household statistical data” and the subsequent processing required for analysis and dissemination.
“A key challenge is the deterioration of the sampling frame due to insufficient resources for its regular updating. This has led to an out-of-scope rate exceeding 20% in household surveys, significantly compromising the quality of the collected statistics.”
The vacancy rate in this branch had shot up to 18.4% at the end of September 2025.
Stats SA said that despite the severe financial challenges it is facing, the quality of the data it produced was still on par with global standards.
“Engagements with the National Treasury regarding additional funding requirements are ongoing. Stats SA submitted its financial requirements through the government budget process,” it said in a written response to Business Day.
“This funding request included 184 identified critical vacant posts to ensure minimum functionality, as well as the amount required to address the existing budget shortfall on compensation of employees.
“The required additional funding was submitted to the government during the MTEF [medium-term expenditure framework] submission and is currently being considered by the appropriate budget committees.”
On the high vacancy rates across its branches, the entity said it was continuously reviewing its financial circumstances to identify savings that come as a result of terminations from staff.
“In the current financial year, 19 critical posts were identified and advertised, with 18 already filled. Six of the seven posts advertised in the prior year have either been appointed or are in the process of being filled.”
Business Day last year reported on concerns raised by the Medical Research Council over the 2022 census data, which it called a “work of fiction,” partly because of the overstated population number, which affects government planning.
Despite there being an undercount of 31% in the data collected on mortality, fertility, labour and income, the agency has stood by the census data.
The stats agency is clearing the backlog in the processing and analysis of mortality and causes of death data. It said the backlog largely stemmed from disruptions during the Covid-19 pandemic, which halted data capturing for about six months.
“This was further complicated by a 40% surge in death notification forms and the complexities of coding causes of death data,” it told Business Day.
“To address the backlog, Stats SA has implemented several measures, including the use of automated coding systems to improve efficiency and the allocation of additional resources for faster processing.
“As a result, the backlog has mostly been cleared. The 2023 report is expected to be released in February 2026, followed by the 2024 and 2025 reports within the 2026/27 financial year.”
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