The Statistician-general has made an appeal to Capetonians to open their homes to fieldworkers of the 2016 Community Survey during their final week of data gathering.

Pali Lehohla said fieldworkers had come under attack in Khayelitsha and were terrified of entering areas like Manenberg.

He said Capetonians had not made it easy for them to do their jobs, often refusing them entry to their property.

Cape Town, Cape Winelands and the Overberg had proved the most difficult households, with only 50 percent of the target collected so far.

Thirty-six computer tablets had been stolen from fieldworkers in the province, 12 of them in Khayelitsha.

Statistics SA said 17 of their fieldworkers had been intimidated while working in the Western Cape and eight had been the victims of attempted robbery.

The police had made one arrest in connection with a stolen tablet.

“The Western Cape has become the capital of tablet theft,” joked Lehohla at Parliament this week.

“We are just waiting for the people to turn them on (so that they can be traced), but they are not switching them on.”

The survey, which started early last month, is akin to a mini census.

But, so far, Stats SA is behind in collecting data from Western Cape households.

The central Karoo and the West Coast were on track with enumeration where more than two-thirds of data was collected.

“It is important that sampled households participate in the survey in order to assist the country to reflect on key indicators of service delivery and provide a basis for future planning,” said Lehohla.

Refusing to be counted can lead to a fine of R10 000 or six months in prison, or both.

Lehohla said in future there could be a move towards internet-based surveys, but this would prove problematic in terms of obtaining the location of the respondent.

[Source: Cape Argus]