Like all national departments of government, Statistics SA reports to parliament on its activities and expenditure, and is bound by the provisions of a number of laws, notably the Public Finance Management Act and the Public Service Act.
However, Stats SA is unusual, in that its functions are also governed by a specific statute, the Statistics Act of 1999.
This reflects the special position an official statistics agency occupies within the government, where its independence from political influence must be guaranteed to ensure the credibility of official statistics.
Yesterday Stats SA's senior management presented its work programme for the next three years to parliament's finance portfolio committee, which is tasked with parliamentary oversight of the department's performance.
In terms of the Statistics Act, the responsible minister (in this case, the minister of finance) must, on the statistician-general's recommendation, prioritise the work programme of Stats SA in accordance with the purposes of official statistics. Both the minister and the statistician-general are advised by the Statistics Council on the work programme.
The Statistics Council has endorsed the latest work programme and the minister has approved it. The programme reflects Stats SA's priorities and key focus areas for the next three financial years.
Finalising detailed planning for the next population census, scheduled for 2011.
The community survey, which goes to field in February 2007, is Stats SA's second-largest undertaking after the population census, which enumerates all households in the country. It aims to provide information at lower geographical levels than current household-based surveys, which collect data from 30 000 households.
The survey, which will collect information from 280 000 households, will profile households, disability, fertility and mortality, education, the expanded public works programme, economic activity and access to service delivery.
In providing information at municipal level, the results of this survey will assist the national treasury in determining financial allocations to municipalities.
The planned poverty survey is a particularly pressing priority. During 2005, Stats SA consulted extensively with all three spheres of government - national, provincial and local - as well as the private sector and the research community, on poverty measurement.
At these discussions, it became clear that the various users of official statistics needed to define a multidimensional concept of poverty, providing a stable base for measuring poverty reduction. The millennium development goal of halving poverty by 2015 makes this even more urgent.
A survey to measure poverty, as defined by key stakeholders, is one of the priorities set out in the department's work programme. Questionnaire design and survey methodologies and processes will be tested in the coming year, while the survey will be conducted during 2008/09.
In his foreword to Stats SA's work programme, finance minister Trevor Manual notes that Stats SA's programme is "immense" and that its successful implementation is fundamental to accurate reporting on "how the country is doing towards achieving its key targets".
The government has set clear targets for development, such as achieving 6 percent GDP growth between 2010 and 2014, reducing unemployment to below 15 percent and halving the poverty rate.
The statistical priorities set out in Stats SA's work programme are designed to facilitate measurement and monitoring of progress in meeting those targets.
Pali Lehohla is South Africa's statistician-general and the head of Stats SA.