CDM WELCOMES DISTRICT CENSUS RESULTS

The Municipality was represented by Executive Mayor Cllr Mamedupi Teffo, MMC for LED Cllr Calvin Masoga, Chief whip Cllr Chuene Malebana and Municipal Manager Mr Ramakuntwane Selepe, while Stats SA was represented by Provincial Executive Manager Mr Nthambeleni Mukwevho, Director of Statistics Support and Coordination Ms Yvonne Mashele and District Manager Mr Gilbert Mabunda.

In presenting the results, Mukwevho revealed that the district population now stands at 1,4 million people – having gone up by over 186,000 since the 2011 Census, and that men account for 47% while women account for 52%. He highlighted that the population of Molemole did not grow significantly (by only 624 people) since 2011 with an average of 3 persons per household. “Polokwane is in the top 10 of the biggest cities in the country in terms of population size”, he said, further stating that Limpopo has got over 170,000 foreign nationals.

On service delivery, Mukwevho revealed that 20% of the Limpopo population has no access to piped water while only 4% has no refuse removal in the Capricorn district.

The Executive Mayor welcomed the results, emphasizing that they “will thus guide us in the allocation of resources, help us identify areas for improvement in service delivery as a tool for us to plan better in comparison with other Districts”. She noted that an increase in population leads to an increase in the demand for access to services and the Municipality can only meet the growing demand if people pay for services.

“We must now channel the resources to address water supply because the results show some regression, particularly in new extensions”, she said, adding that the results came at an opportune time when “we are embarking on IDP consultations to plan for the next financial year”, she said.

Mashele acknowledged that the census was a big project with huge logistics and thanked households for opening their doors to the field workers to get counted. “We also commend you CDM for being the Census ambassadors and urging people to get counted, she said.

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