BRACe received the following info below from Andrew McMurray – Chairman: Sandton CPF Sector 4 Subforum.

The above and below mentioned study by NIDS, will be taking place in and around Sandton over the next 3 to 4 weeks. Please be aware of it, and that it is not a scam. Attached are images of the branded vehicles, trailers and bibs that fieldworkers will be driving/wearing. Each fieldworker will have a plastic ID tag....if fieldworkers have paper tags, they are not genuine.

Note, all their vehicles that we use are Toyota Etios sedans.

Please co-operate with them should they contact you.

Thanks and Regards

Andrew McMurray
Chairman : Sandton CPF Sector 4 Subforum.

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Dear Mrs Govender
 
I would like to thank you and your colleagues for allowing our NIDS Awareness Team to give a presentation on this important study this past Saturday. Your willingness to assist and effort made in understanding what this study is about is commendable and much appreciated.
 
As promised by Pauline, please find attached all the relevant materials pertaining to this study as well as a few images of the bibs our fieldworkers will be wearing, their ID tags and the branded vehicles they will be driving with, as well as of our mobile advertisement trailers that will be parked in selected neighbourhoods from time to time.

We fully understand the importance of potential participants being informed of our presence in their neighbourhoods, and are very sensitive to the fact that crime is a concern, hence our efforts to make communities aware of our presence.
 
To provide some more background, this is the only study of its nature in South Africa, and one of only few in the world providing this type of high quality data about the lives of its citizens (other examples include Germany, the UK and the US). It is implemented by the Southern African Labour Development Research Unit (SALDRU) of the University of Cape Town.
 
The purpose of this study (NIDS) is to determine the changes in the quality of life of all South Africans and, importantly, what helps or hinders these changes. 

We gather the information in personal interviews at participants’ homes then make it anonymous, merge it with all the other participants’ information and provide it as a large complex set of data to policy researchers and policymakers. The purpose is to provide real hard evidence to allow national policymaking and policy research to be informed by factual data free of bias. We do not personally profit from this data, it is published as a free national resource.

To keep the data relevant to all South Africans we now need to add some more people; so, for the first time since 2008, we will be approaching new people in the hope they will add their voices to the study and therefore to the national policy discussion.  In this way we ensure that your story, and others like yours, are included in the evidence available to policy researchers and policymakers.

Households were randomly selected using statistical sampling techniques. In this way researchers and policymakers know that the information represents all South Africans and not just particular groups. It is important for us to hear the stories of ALL South Africans, specifically those in suburban areas.

Please find attached a digital copy of our relevant leaflets (English and Afrikaans), an official letter from the University asking assistance and a link to our YouTube channel where various NIDS videos are published. The videos further explain not only what NIDS is, but also demonstrate examples of analysis of the data and the policy implications drawn from it.

Once again, we would like to thanks you for giving us this opportunity and going the extra mile.  It is important that residents in your surrounding neighbourhoods make an informed decision on whether they would like to participate or not, and we understand that it is also important for residents to be assured of the legitimacy of this study. Should you have any questions, please contact us or look us up through any of the channels listed below.

Please note that I will send separate Adobe Pdf map on a follow-up mail, which will indicate the areas we will be visiting that might be under your jurisdiction. Since I am not entirely sure which of these areas do fall under your jurisdiction, I might include some that does not. In such cases you can just ignore those maps.
 

Also note that I will be providing your email address to the University of Cape Town as well where they will be sending the same info through on an official UCT mail.

Contact:
Francois Bezuidenhout
GIS Manager: GeoSpace International
 
Tel       +27 12 348 4586
Cell      +27 82 829 0765
E-mail  francoisb@geospace.co.za
URL      www.geospace.co.za