Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele says jobs and social security are among the issues that people spoke about when he visited Paarl in the Western Cape as part of a pre-State of the Nation Address (SONA) outreach programme.
Gungubele, accompanied by Deputy Minister Thembi Siweya, conducted a door-to-door walkbout in Paarl on Monday to encourage residents to participate in the 2022 Census in order to assist government plan for services.
“As you know, we are here today just to do two things – one to remind our people that every 10 years government counts people so that government is able to know what plans must be put in place.
“Amongst other things, the implications of new patterns of human settlements, the number of school-going children, those are entitled to social grants, those who are unemployed, particularly young people who are from school,” he said.
Gungubele, together with officials from the Government Communication and Information System, spoke to residents in Mbekweni in Paarl, before interacting with commuters, informal business owners and anyone he came across in the Paarl CBD to urge them to not only participate in the Census, but to also watch President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address on Thursday evening.
Gungubele said government would also use Census 2022 to determine how many people are in the country “who are not South Africans, what are the implications of having them here, how do we work together and plan for that total picture”.
The programme is part of a build-up to the State of the Nation Address which is scheduled to take place on Thursday, 10 February 2022 at 19:00.
The State of the Nation Address is a key national event where the sitting President of South Africa advises the nation on government’s programme for the year and reflects on the progress made with regards to the commitments of the previous year’s address.
Gungubele said some positive spin offs have come out of the outreach programme.
“So far, some of you would have seen, we have been speaking to people. I have not seen a single one who is against the Census. People showed interest, they showed excitement.” – SAnews.