It undertook to enumerate every person present in South Africa on the census night between 9–10 October 2001 at a cost of R 987,000,000.

This geographic database was created out of several data sets acquired from government departments and private sector companies.

It included topographic maps, cadastral data, administrative boundaries, aerial photography, satellite imagery and videography.

The intention was that each area could be handled by a single enumerator, to allow every household in the country to be visited within the timeframe provided.

[5][6] Three questionnaires were printed: As the 2001 Census was paper-based, an enormous amount of data needed to be converted to a digital format.