White, democratic, technocratic: the political charge behind official statistics in South Africa

Figures & data

Table 1. Key institutional development in South African statistics.

Sequences	Statistical apartheid	Democratic period	Normalization period
Structure	▪ Apartheid ▪ Racial and geographical fragmentation ▪ No autonomy	▪ Rebuilding the state ▪ Old and new domestic norms ▪ Increasing openness to international norms	▪ Stabilization of democracy ▪ Social, economic and political tensions ▪ Independence of StatsSA
Agency	▪ CSS leads the path of official statistics ▪ Focus on specific economic statistics ▪ Use of international norms to respect interests of key sectors ▪ Bias in choice of statistics and methodologies to the detriment of black Africans	▪ New and varied users with competing interests ▪ Perpetuation and adaptation of apartheid norms ▪ Balance inside StatsSA between the need for new statistics and building legitimacy ▪ Voluntary involvement of foreign consultants	▪ Affirming the role and credibility of StatsSA ▪ Objectification of statistics ▪ Diffusion of StatsSA expertise on the African continent ▪ Respect for international norms to support normalization