Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Hon Theliswa Mgweba;
Committee Members;
Acting Statistician-General  of Stats SA, Yandiswa Mpentsheni;
Chairperson of the Stats Council, Dr Nompulelo Mbele;

Thank you, Honourable Chair and Members of the Portfolio Committee, for inviting us to present the Annual Report of Stats SA for the 2024/25 financial year.

We are joined today by the acting Statistician-General, Ms Yandiswa Mpentsheni, and her team as well as the Chair of the Statistics Council, Dr Nompumelelo Mbele.

The Statistics Council is appointed by the Minister. The Council is an independent advisory body to both the Minister and the Statistician-General on matters statistics. The role of the Council is to safeguard official statistics in the country.

The year 2024 marked three decades of democracy in South Africa, a milestone celebrated through the peaceful exercise of our citizens’ democratic right to vote. This historic moment led to the formation of a Government of National Unity, united in its mission to improve the lives of all who live in our country.

Statistics South Africa, our national statistical agency, plays a crucial, yet often under-estimated role in how we craft our developmental agenda as a nation. The organisation provides us with official data to make informed decisions, based on facts rather than anecdote.

The 2024/25 financial year marked the final year of implementing the 5-year Strategic Plan.

Amid financial and human resource constraints, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) demonstrated remarkable resilience and performance, achieving over 90% of its targets since the start of the strategic planning cycle in 2020/21 that ended in 2024/25. This achievement is not merely a testament to operational efficiency – it reflects the organisation’s pivotal role in shaping evidence-based policy and driving developmental outcomes across the country.

We are here today to share with you the financial and organisational performance of Stats SA. The SG will highlight key achievements against the strategic outcomes in the 5-year Strategic Plan.

For the year under review, we have obtained a financially unqualified audit opinion with matters of emphasis.

Stats SA continues with financial challenges, both in Cost of Employment (CoE) as well as goods and services. This continues to have a negative impact on the vacancy rate and meeting our employment equity targets.

We have successfully provided timely, relevant, and accurate information on the dynamics of the economy and society through the publishing of over 290 statistical releases.

The sustainability of our core series is however at risk if we are unable to address the resource challenges that we are facing.

I would be amiss not to share the good news that the Amendment Bill has been signed into law - called the Statistics Amendment Act (No. 29 of 2024) - by the President in December 2024. This Act paves the way for enhanced statistical production and coordination through strengthened partnerships among data producers.

Stats SA continues to collaborate with Government departments to improve the quality of their statistics, with the goal of achieving official status. As implementation of the Act progresses, we anticipate Stats SA’s leadership role in shaping South Africa’s data ecosystem.

Chair and Honourable members, allow me to hand over to the Statistician-General that will present the organisational and financial performance of Stats SA.