Lots of panicky, kneejerk comment on the story that criminals posing as census officials robbed a house in Kensington, Johannesburg yesterday, but blaming the real census officials for this is like blaming FNB for sending phishing emails.
Reading the report: “Symons said the doorbell rang and two men in green jackets told him over the intercom they were census workers”.
And that says it all, because census officers won’t be wearing green jackets.
As we said yesterday, census officials can be identified as follows:
1) A yellow satchel with the Census and Stats SA logos
2) An A3-size book with a map of the area on the first page
3) A yellow bib with the Census and Stats SA logo
4) A black cap with the Stats SA logo
5) An ID card with a hologram of the Census 2011 logo (SA map with the words “You Count” below it).These persons can be verified by calling 0800 110 248 or 080 236 787 2, which is toll-free from a landline.
Who is to blame for this lack of knowledge? My Symons and his ilk or Stats SA for not getting the message out there?
I’ve seen an awful lot of information on the net, in the newspapers and on billboards, but maybe Mr Symons doesn’t read the papers, doesn’t go on the internet, doesn’t get out much.
Right now, it doesn’t matter whose fault it is, but it does prove that understanding the system is key in preventing this sort of thing happening more often. To that end, herewith two posters released by Stats SA via their Facebook presence which have a lot of useful information on them:
Click on them to make them bigger and have a read.
I’d like to draw your attention particularly to the text in the small red box in the corner of that first poster:
Important:
If you do not want to grant an enumerator access to your home, you are not obliged to, but you are obliged under the Statistics Act to provide your household information on the questionnaire. You may either self complete or give your information to the enumerator in your yard, over a gate or through a fence. It’s your choice.
Another note which isn’t mentioned clearly here is that fieldworkers work alone: “Do not allow more than one fieldworker into your home – if you are not sure , please contact 0800 110 248 or call your local police” say Stats SA.
And here’s a useful article from the M&G telling you what they are going to ask you about.
Please share this post (shortlink: http://bit.ly/SAcensus) and the information within as widely as possible: more informed people means less chance of incidents like the one above.
EDIT: Just interested to know – would you have known this information before you read it here?