Business Times reports that statistician-general Risenga Maluleke has warned that Statistics SA was losing key technical staff at a rate faster than it was able to replace them, which could hamper the organisation's ability to do its work.  

The vacancy rate at the country's national statistical service has worsened since financial year-end in March, when it had been 13.9%, and now stands at 15%.  "In the last 12 months alone we have lost more than 170 staff members, some of them in critical positions," Maluleke indicated last week.  Vacancies are for key posts such as those held by methodologists and technical staff in population and social statistics, and economics.  Stats SA is caught in a bind.  In 2016, a moratorium was placed on hiring after the National Treasury implemented belt-tightening measures due to weaker revenue and it has not been lifted.  In May last year, the Treasury cut the organisation's budget by 13%.  As the result of funding shortages, Stats SA now has an "overexpenditure on compensation of employees", Maluleke noted.  "We're talking about warm bodies, people who are there, that we don't have enough money to pay them," he warned.  Maluleke declined to disclose how much money was required, but said it was "considerable enough".

• Read the full original report by Asha Speckman at BL Premium (paywall access)

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