Ann Eveleth
A SNAP Mail & Guardian survey of 40 Durban households this week turned up a 10% household error in last month’s national census, and revealed wide schisms between black and white views on the project.
White Durban residents polled were only half as likely as blacks to say they understood the reason for the census, and they raised five times more complaints about the process than black Durbanites. They also represented 75% of uncounted households in M&G survey areas.
At least 45% of black participants said they believed the census was important to development and planning issues, while only 22% of whites gave similar reasons.
Most whites who believed the census was important said it was “just to know how many people there are”. The only reason given by one of the two Indian households surveyed was that the government wanted “to know how many people there are in each race group”.
The M&G survey comprised 10 houses each on four Durban streets – two in KwaMashu and two in Durban’s predominantly white Morningside suburb. Four households – one in KwaMashu and three in Morningside – said they were not counted. These comprised a total of nine people.
The 36 homes which were counted by census officials comprised 181 people. The per capita error revealed on the part of census officials was less than 5%.
Of the three white households not counted, one reported: “We received the form, but didn’t fill it out because of the question about race. They came and picked it up anyway.”
Morningside resident Natasha Jones said census officials had not visited her home: “They didn’t come to anyone I know. I don’t think they counted a lot of white people.”
Other whites in Morningside outside the survey area said they had been counted, but knew people who had not. Three white households complained the census was “a waste of money”, one felt the project was “a lot of crookery”, while two other households were “offended” by questions contained in the census.
In stark contrast, most black households surveyed said they were “happy to be counted” and that “everything went well”.
KwaMashu resident Maggie Mkhize said: “The census is important because most of the people here are unemployed. The government needs to see how many people need jobs because joblessness causes hunger, which causes crime.”
The survey results suggest one possible explanation for the wide racial divide in attitudes toward the census: while some blacks said they had been counted “once before” by previous census officials, most said this was the first time they had ever been counted.
Natal provincial census manager Selwyn Bruce said: “I am pleased your findings have confirmed what I suspect – that our error is nowhere near the 25% reported in another newspaper.”
He said the census turnout had been “fantastic in areas like KwaMashu, where the 1991 census had used aerial photography to count people. Areas like Berea and Morningside have been more problematic. The more affluent the area, the worse problems we have had.”
He said he would be surprised if KwaZulu- Natal’s overall per capita error turned out to be more than 5% to 6%. In black rural areas, he anticipated an error of about 3%.