Risenga Maluleke

Biography

Risenga Maluleke was appointed South Africa’s 2nd Statistician-General in November, 2017.

Prior to November, 2017, Mr. Maluleke was the Deputy Director-General for Statistical Collections and Outreach. He has been with Statistics South Africa for over 25 years, having joined as a Manager in the Limpopo Provincial office in 1997. He was responsible for the provincial offices’ data collection for censuses and sample surveys; international statistical development and communications. Mr Maluleke has also been instrumental in International Statistical Development.

Mr Maluleke has been extensively involved in driving the Africa Symposium for Statistical Development which resulted in 50 African countries doing their censuses in the 2010 Round of population and housing censuses and more than 20 countries having the much needed strategies on civil registration and vital statistics. He was also instrumental in ensuring that provinces are not left behind in the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

Mr. Maluleke has represented South Africa on countless occasions and has extensive experience in international and diplomatic matters. He has been instrumental in managing Stats SA’s participation in international meetings such as the UN Statistical Commission (UNSC). He has also represented Stats SA’s on emerging issues such as Big Data and its inherent programmes of Data Revolution in support of indicators for SDGs and Africa’s Agenda 2063. He has served as a member of the UN High Level Group for Partnership, Coordination and Capacity-Building for Statistics for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs). He currently co-chairs a few global bodies, among others, (i) the UN Global Working Group on Big Data, (ii) the World Bank-led International Comparisons Program on purchasing power parities across the world, and (iii) the Total Official Support for Sustainable Development focusing largely on SDGs.

He holds a BSc in mathematical statistics from the University of Limpopo and a Master’s in Urban and Regional Science from the University of Stellenbosch. He has also completed Senior Executive Programmes from the University of the Witwatersrand and Harvard Business Schools.