The Western Cape government has urged residents to co-operate with the census counting as this will translate into fair budget allocations. The provincial government says the unprecedented influx of citizens to the province in the past ten years has put a strain on its resources.

The province was addressing Census field employees before they undertook the task of counting the country’s population. The field workers hit the ground running as they visited homeless shelters, hospitals, schools, hostels and international arrivals at the Cape Town International Airport.

The City of Cape Town says its population has grown tremendously since the last count about ten years ago. This has created a myriad of issues such as the growing inequality, sprawling informal settlements and growing number of homeless people. Mayor Geordin Hill Lewis.: