Originally Stats SA intended to implement the census exactly ten years after the 2011 census on 10 October 2021. The
COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa caused repeated delays in planning and logistics of the census resulting in the census date being pushed back to 2 February 2022 with all data being collected by the end of that month. Due to additional logistical and implementation issues, complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the completion date was initially pushed back to 20 March, then 30 April for the whole country. An additional extension was made for the Western Cape. After the publication of the census results it was reported that the under-count rate was 31% for the population as a whole but as high as 72% for Indian South Africans and 62% for White South Africans. The under-count rate being the highest in the Western Cape province. In August 2024 STATS SA announced that due to reporting anomalies it would not be releasing key data such as figures on mortality, fertility, employment and household income. These issues caused the South African academics, Professor Tom Moultrie and Emeritus Professor Rob Dorrington, to state that the statistics were likely not accurate enough for official use. Despite these criticisms, most notably the under-counting problem, STATS SA rejected calls from academia and other researchers for a recount and instead stated that the results were credible. whilst around 80% of the country's whole population had been surveyed by the same date. The issue of under-counting in the Western Cape Province was a serious issue of concern for the Western Cape Provincial government as it might result in fewer resources being allocated to the province by national government on a per-capita basis relative to the rest of the country. In the Western Cape census workers reported difficulty in contacting households with high walls - thereby preventing many surveys from being conducted - whilst other households refused to participate in the census. Other problems encountered by Stats SA in the province included not being able to hire enough census workers or being able to secure enough vehicles. ==See also==