Pretoria - Statistics South Africa has assured aggrieved workers that they will be paid once the work is completed and by the time the enumeration officially closes come March 20.
The assurance comes after workers in Johannesburg and Pretoria raised concerns over the lack of payment and unfair treatment.
Fieldworkers in KwaZulu-Natal also protested outside the Stats SA offices in the area on Monday over the delayed payment of some of the workers.
They alleged instead of getting paid as per their contracts with the entity, some were yet to be paid to date, whilst others had only received R800.
Fieldworkers operating around parts of Tshwane and Johannesburg, who requested to remain anonymous, said they were unhappy with the manner in which the management of Stats SA was treating them.
Statistics South Africa fieldworkers in KwaZulu-Natal protested outside the Stats SA offices in the area on over the delayed payment of some of the workers. #StatsSA @StatsSA pic.twitter.com/cBRxErbxxk
— Pretoria News (@pretorianews) March 16, 2022
They alleged that instead of getting paid the agreed-upon rate of R264 per day they were informed that they would instead only be paid R111.11.
On top of that, they said the management kept pushing back the date of when some of the workers would be paid with the only explanation being that there were some technical issues.
The workers said while they were due to be paid an advance on March 10 they were informed the day before of some technical issues, with assurances given that they would be paid at the latest on March 11.
"When the 11th came around some were paid while some of us were not paid in full. They (Stats SA) then promised us that we would be paid come the 18th but it's just unfair what they are doing to us.
"We work in the heat, having to count 200 houses and are constantly being on the lookout for criminals wanting to steal our gadgets, so to have our monies delayed feels a bit like a kick in the face."
Stats SA spokesperson Trevor Oosterwyk said they understood the workers' frustrations, and confirmed that there had been a delay in payment to some of the workers.
Oosterwyk indicated that they had spent the last three to four days verifying the workers' information as the system used by the government required all information to be supplied and verified before payments are processed.
"The system used, required us to verify their information, and many of them were not paid as they did not provide the correct banking details."
The spokesperson said as far as they knew workers would still be getting paid the agreed amount of R264 for work that had not only been completed but that which had been signed off on by the respective supervisor.
"We understand that these people have worked hard and have families that depend on them, and I can assure them that the management of Stats SA is not out to rob them of the money, it's there.
"Come the closing date of March 20, all the outstanding monies will be paid in terms of the work completed and once they have handed in the gadgets provided to them back to us."
Regarding concerns of safety after some workers indicated they were being targeted by criminals for the tablets supplied for enumeration, Oosterwyk said thankfully the organisation had managed to recover some of them with the assistance of law enforcement.
He said although they had put in place mechanisms to protect the information of persons enumerated, there was little they could do about the attacks.
"Unfortunately we live in a society where crime and poverty are rampant in our communities so doing such work is always going to be risky. It's not that we have not done anything to secure workers, we've even roped in police to increase visibility where fieldworkers are covering."
"In places where there are gangs we've made sure that the teams are sent out in groups with taxis and that they make the effort to at least alert the police of their presence in the area."
Pretoria News