Statistics South Africa announced during a briefing on Sunday that the big count begins in 365 days time when all people within the borders of SA will be counted on October 9 and 10 2011.
"Everyone in the country counts and so that policy can plan for their needs, it's important everyone gets ready for 2011," said Statistician-General, Pali Lehohla.
The results are expected in March 2013 and R1.2bn has been provided to Stats SA to run it. But the organization is still negotiating with the National Treasury for an additional R700m.
Trevor Manuel, Minister in the Presidency, said the 2011 national census is not to police but to enable people to hold this and future governments accountable.
"The aim is to improve the quality of life of all people and so it is important to answer the questions," he said.
"We will be able to take the correct decisions about people's lives - it is not because government is a busybody," he said.
Manuel has been instrumental in getting African governments to bolster their statistical data since 2006 and invited all heads of statistics offices on the continent to Cape Town in 2006 - where the African Symposia for Statistical Development was born. All countries in Africa have now committed to running a census in the 2010 Round of Censuses.
Manuel said the SA census would include non-South Africans as well, so the government would know the needs of all people in its borders - including those "under the radar". "We are not there to police," he said.
"And it is not just for one political party," he added.
"We are doing it for a better South Africa," he concluded.
But the census is not without controversy, as Stats SA came in for criticism when it said it would not be able to conduct the next scheduled census within five years of the last one in 2001 - in 2006.
Stats SA said it was not in a position to conduct a successful census and it was rescheduled to 2011, but a Community Survey took place in 2006.
The 2011 census will employ more than 120 000 field workers to conduct the count, which will cover more than 14 million households in the country.
Stats SA's July 2009 population estimate for SA was pegged at 49 052 489 people.
The 2007 Community Survey found that black Africans composed about 79% of the population.
http://www.fin24.com/Economy/Census-to-costs-almost-R2bn-20101010