Census 2011 officially began at midnight on Sunday – and Grocott's Mail was there. Lungile Mpharu describes the census workers' search for the homeless on Grahamstown's streets. Matthew Miller took the photos.
Census 2011 officially began at midnight on Sunday – and Grocott's Mail was there. Lungile Mpharu describes the census workers' search for the homeless on Grahamstown's streets. Matthew Miller took the photos.
Port Elizabeth man Siyabonga Mafu was the first person in Grahamstown to be counted by Census 2011 officials – after hours of searching the streets on Sunday night.
Mafu was sleeping on a sheet of cardboard at the corner of Beaufort Street and Bathurst Street, diagonally opposite the BP garage.
The census officials gave him food and it emerged, as he spoke to census officials, that he'd been walking from East London since Friday and was heading home to Port Elizabeth. He had stopped in Grahamstown because he was tired and it was too late for him to continue his journey.
Xolani Simakhule, co-ordinator of Census 2011 in Grahamstown, had told us, "Tonight we will be counting the homeless people, the so-called street kids and giving them food. While they are eating, we will be able to do our job and get them to answer our questionnaires."
Simakhule said Census Night was also aimed at counting people in transit – people who are constantly on the road, and that included truck drivers, at truck stops.
Areas had been identified where the homeless who were not in shelters could usually be found sleeping, such as beneath bridges, on public benches, under bushes, and in temporary shelters. When Census officials went to these areas on Sunday night, however, they found many of them abandoned.
Questionnaires were also dropped off at hotels, guest houses, lodges and other accommodation establishments. These had to be completed by hotel administrators, managers and guests who had spent Census Night there.
Census Night launched a process that will continue until 31 October, during which time the enumerators will be visiting households with questionnaires.
