Social transformation and the relationship between users and producers of official statistics: The case of the 1996 population census in South Africa

Abstract

Under its new management, the Central Statistical Service (CSS) in South Africa has, like many other government institutions, been undergoing rapid and far-reaching transformation towards meeting the development needs of the new democratic order. The 1996 population census serves as a case study of the relationship between the CSS as prime producer of official statistics and the users of such statistics, in the context of fundamental social change.

The relationship ranges over three periods: firstly, the period of the apartheid era, concluding with a short phase of contestation, after the change of government but before the new CSS management was installed; secondly, the current period of transformation driven by the new management; and thirdly the envisaged period of consolidation. We demonstrate how, moving through these periods, the importance of substantive co-operation between a genuinely representative range of users and the producer of official statistics in defining common goals and output began to be recognised.

Events in the apartheid period demonstrate the dangers of the monopoly of official statistics sustained by the CSS of the time, when issues of social relevance, accessibility of products, and regard for disadvantaged respondents had the lowest priority. As change began to unfold, serious conflicts arose from the divergence between new user needs and CSS products, with negative implications for the system of official statistics. The transformation phase demonstrates the beginning of genuine co-operation between users and producers in re-orienting the new CSS towards relevant products from an accessible and user-friendly institution. The consolidation period presents the vision of the future towards which the new CSS is working.