This divine instruction, hon Swart and other members, clearly illustrates the historic importance of statistics and how crucial they are to win a war. Ours is not a war of spilling blood - I am just being careful about mentioning the word "war", because I might be hauled before the courts of the country for saying we should go to war. [Laughter.] The war I am referring to is one against social ills stemming from the evil apartheid system and other variables that are obstructing our much-deserved development. It is a war against poverty. Hence hon Minister, finalising the poverty line index is crucial.
This is a war against hunger, illiteracy, joblessness, disease and other related social ills. It is a war of numbers. We cannot win it if we do not know how many are affected and what the magnitude of the situation is. We must all agree that accurate numbers are a critical prerequisite for any successful war to be waged. If we want to win our war, we must perfect our population statistics.
As we march towards implementing one of our most important and ambitious programmes of job creation since the inception of the democratic order in 1994, we continue to face enormous risks in two critical areas: health and education. Determining just how big this risk is, and to what extent this will pose a threat to the achievement of this massive programme, is the function of Stats SA. It must assist us with information. They do so through one of their key programmes, population and social statistics.
As stated in the estimates of the National Expenditure 2011 document, the main objectives of this programme are to inform social and economic development planning, monitoring and decision-making by providing accurate, relevant and timely statistical information through the application of internationally recognised practices; and to publish regular information, as stated earlier, on the labour market, vital registrations, poverty levels, living conditions and service delivery, as well as population dynamics and demographic trends.
It provides health statistical information through the sub-programme on health, and vital statistics, which, according to their strategy, include publishing statistics of births, deaths, marriages, divorces, tourism and migration based on administrative records.
Reliable and accurate statistical information is particularly important in the area of health, as we have in the past few years implemented the most comprehensive health-care programmes dealing with HIV and Aids and other communicable diseases facing the country, and in the coming years, we will see the gradual implementation of the National Health Insurance.
Stats SA is an important capacity for our developmental state. As a knowledge organisation, it has the role of adding value in development. It helps in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation as well as with the progress of our health policies. It should be able to support government planning with statistics and data on the implementation of the National Health Insurance, among others, as well as the magnitude and the extent of substance, alcohol and drug abuse in the country.
The production and provision of this data and statistics will contribute towards the successful implementation of our national programme priorities on health and the Millennium Development Goals. As we continue in our quest to improve the health status of our population, it is crucial that Stats SA consistently provides us with credible and reliable statistics and data on the reduction of child mortality, improvement in maternal health, and efforts to combat HIV and Aids, malaria and other diseases.
These goals are directly in line with our government priorities, outlined in our Medium-Term Strategic Framework of 2009-14, in particular to improve the nation's health profile, skills base and to ensure universal access to basic services. On this issue, I think we should credit Stats SA for the excellent national report that they produced in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, assessing the progress we have made in our implementation of the Millennium Development Goals.
As the ruling party, the beloved ANC, we are particularly pleased with the role that Stats SA is playing in this area. We will support its plans. These are consistent with the priorities we have identified for this five- year electoral period based on the election manifesto. Our election manifesto has identified, inter alia, the introduction of the National Health Insurance system, as well as reviewing the existing drug policy and strategy, and investing in research and development in the health sector.
Planning for the implementation of these priorities requires masses of statistical data and research information that is accurate and reliable. Given the magnitude of the work involved in processing this kind of information, we recognise the importance of collaboration and partnerships. In this regard, we will encourage Stats SA to strengthen its programme of corporate relations. Hon Ambrosini, you must understand this spending pattern against the background of the importance of improving corporate relations because it takes all stakeholders to make the work of Stats SA meaningful and effective. I think the Stats SA programme on corporate relations must be strengthened in order to facilitate collaborative partnerships, both locally and internationally.
In addition, it is crucial that Stats SA establishes closer working relationships with key government departments such as Health, Social Development, Monitoring and Evaluation and other specialist institutions like the Human Science Research Council.
Hon Ambrosini, don't worry, I think I understand your situation. It is not unusual conduct for you to come here and be surprised when figures are given. Unfortunately, in most cases you are not part of committee deliberations. I hope we will improve your participation in committee deliberation so that you continue to add value in the process of assisting Stats SA to do its work.
Collaboration across all spheres will not only ensure cost sharing among partners but will also increase the reliability and credibility of information. As reported in one of our last sittings, we are urging Stats SA to expedite the process of implementing the South African Statistical Quality Assessment Framework.
By focusing on evaluation and monitoring, we believe collectively, as a committee, that this framework will engender the much-needed development of sector capacity on statistics generation and quality of the statistical information.
We particularly welcome the work being done to strengthen partnerships across the African continent. This will assist in the much-needed harmonisation of African statistics and promote development in our continent. As the ANC, we believe that the importance of Stats SA and its role in development, in particular in health, cannot be overemphasised.
Recent history shows us that in the absence of official statistics, government policy intentions will be in danger of distortions, as is the case with the current debate on the National Health Insurance system. This is very unfortunate. All manner of statistics have flooded the media, most of them being ideologically-driven and biased against its introduction. We hope that Stats SA will be the best statistical institution and better placed, through its high standards, to assist in demystifying statistics and provide tested quality assurance.
In complementing efforts meant to deal with the shortage of mathematics and statistical skill as a key challenge facing our country, we are urging our learners to choose this field as a career of choice. We are also calling on all South Africans, as a way of ensuring that counting is done in all households, to open their houses to Stats SA enumerators.
Bofang dint?a batho ba gaetsho le amogeleng babadi ba rona go tswa kwa Mokgatlong wa Dipalopalo wa Aforika Borwa. [Tie up your dogs and welcome our census people from Stats SA.]
It is also important to reiterate what was said by hon Adams, when she stated that political parties should take ownership of this process. It cannot be seen as a one-party thing. I am so content with the conduct of various political parties within the committee so far. We have shown - including you, hon Ambrosini - that this is not a party-political issue but a priority for the country. We have risen above our political differences and ensured that we speak in one voice as we deliberated on this particular process. We will continue to take ownership, even beyond the elections. It is important that as we preach and work around elections, we do not forget about encouraging our people to consider ... [Interjections.]