Hon Chairperson, statistics always deal with the known past, but become a very powerful tool to influence the future. People are normally mesmerised by the future; some will waste their money on fortune tellers, others flock to scientists to learn what the future will hold. The British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, has a fantastic website where they predict what will happen in the next 100 years.
Let's first look how correctly they forecast 100 years ago what would happen today and then we can judge their predictions for the next 100 years.
John Watson predicted 100 years ago that photographs would be telegraphed from any distance. You know the multimedia messaging, MMS; he predicted that 100 years ago. He predicted that Americans would be taller by two inches - exactly correct. He predicted that mobile phones would be part of our lives and so would television. He was correct. He predicted that we would have ready-cooked meals; he was correct. He predicted that there would be very fast trains running all over Europe and he predicted that boats would fly - we've got the airbus. [Laughter.] So he was remarkably spot-on, this man, but he was wrong on three counts. He predicted that the letters c, x and q would not be part of the alphabet any more. He also predicted that there would be no more motor cars in big cities, and no flies and no mosquitoes; he was wrong on that. But overall, we can take him seriously.
Now, let's see what they are predicting on how this global village will look in 100 years from now. They say we will farm oceans extensively, not only for fish. They say that we will be able to communicate through thought transmission, just by looking at each other. They say that thanks to deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA, and robotic engineering, we will have created credibly intelligent human beings - there is some good news for politicians - and they will easily grow to 130 and up to 150 years. We will control the weather. There will be one world currency. We will be wired to computers to make our brains work faster.
Nanorobots will flow around our bodies, fixing cells, and we will be able to record our memory. California will lead the break-up of the United States of America, and China will politically and culturally fragment as well. Space elevators will make space travel cheap and easy. Exciting? Let's wait and see. I don't think it is so exciting.
So we had Census 2011 to tell us about the past, but what must we do now and what must we do to save the future for a better South Africa? Will South Africa be a more equal society in future, in the next 100 years, hopefully, or sooner? That question will be answered if we are successful in implementing the National Development Plan, NDP, at all levels.
Clearly this census has shown us how far we are from a desired South Africa. It is clear from the census that our society is still divided around class and race lines and between rich and poor. According to the Statistician-General, and I quote him: Class is emerging as a feature, but this is not dominant as yet, and let's hope that this feature will prosper in the next ten years to assist South Africa to grow a more common identity.
Statistics SA is probably by far the most sophisticated, if you compare it with the rest of our continent, Africa. It is good for us from a planning point of view and might give us that edge, because we have good statistics, but sometimes it's my feeling that we are not favourably projected when statistics are being compared to other countries. Are we really sometimes comparing apples with apples? Sometimes we are projected negatively just because we have the statistics available and our competitors' statistics are sometimes doubtful and they are not compared, which does not always put South Africa in the light that we want it to be.
The census provides useful data, but could be improved to have a shorter period between counts. The challenge is now to design cheaper and more effective ways to conduct these counts or censuses. The Census 2011 undercount was 14,6%. It is too high and it must be a concern, especially if we weigh up the cost of a census and the fact that we haven't had a good census for many years. It will be a good exercise for Statistics SA to come up with a plan and to pilot it to make sure that we move to a single-digit level for future counts.
Statistics SA must be commended for the introduction of their mobile application, My Ward, My Councillor. This is opening up a new world and becomes a powerful tool for politicians and local government and, if used correctly, will impact on better service delivery.
The most concerning of statistics of Census 2011 is that there are 14,5 million South Africans who are discouraged workseekers. In other words, 14,5 million have lost their connectivity with the economy and are giving up hope.
According to Professor Adam Saville, when a society believes its engagement with the economy will not change lives, it is in trouble. We have seen it in Egypt. Egypt had a fair economic growth, huge unemployment, a hugely high rate of disengagement among their citizens, and they went belly-up. Let's hope that the National Development Plan will bring back hope to those 14,5 million South Africans.
If we fail them, we shall fail South Africa. The NDP is our vision for the next 20 years. Let's hope it will be embraced by far more South Africans and that we will all realise that this is our opportunity to make a difference. The census has shown the reality of this country, let's use this information to shape the future. [Applause.]