The number of households receiving water services increased in all the provinces from 2007 to 2008. However, the increase was mainly due to more paying consumers, and not necessarily to increases in the number of households receiving free basic services. In fact, the number and proportion of households receiving free basic water decreased in all but two provinces.

Only the Eastern and Northern Cape showed increases in the number of households receiving free basic water. In the Eastern Cape, households receiving free basic water increased from 574 165 (48%) of all households receiving water services in 2007 to 1 025 384 (57%) in 2008. This was an increase of 79%. The number in the Northern Cape increased by 35% from 87 432 (41%) in 2007 to 119 198 (48%) in 2008.

There were 9 890 463 households receiving water services in South Africa in 2007, of which 7 225 287 (73%) were receiving free basic water. In 2008, some 11 503 761 households were receiving water services. Even though the number of households receiving water services increased by 16%, the number receiving free basic water decreased to 6 974 851 (61%). This is a decrease of 3%.The largest decrease in the number and proportion of households receiving free basic water was in the Free State, from 569 622 (91%) in 2007 to 411 483 (62%) in 2008. This was a decrease of 28%.

The number of households receiving electricity services in South Africa increased by 6% from 7 637 065 in 2007 to 8 096 469 in 2008. Households receiving free basic electricity decreased slightly from 2 891 887 (38%) of all households receiving electricity in 2007 to 2 817 959 (35%) in 2008. This was a decrease of 3%.

There were decreases in the number of households receiving free basic electricity in six out of the nine provinces. The largest reduction was in Gauteng, where the number and proportion of households receiving free basic electricity decreased from 876 730 (52%) in 2007 to 745 215 (42%) in 2008. This was a decrease of 15%.

The three provinces which had increases in the number of households receiving free basic electricity were the Northern Cape, Mpumalanga, and Limpopo. In the Northern Cape, the increase was from 62 994 households (36%) in 2007 to 103 508 (41%). This was an increase of 64%. The increase in Mpumalanga was from 194 102 (36%) in 2007 to 227 193 (40%) in 2008, which was an increase of 17%. The increase for Limpopo was from 126 621 (16%) to 257 627 (28%), which was an increase of 103%.

There were 8 102 944 households in South Africa receiving sewerage and sanitation services in 2007, of which 3 118 234 (39%) were receiving free such sewerage and sanitation services. The number of households receiving sewerage and sanitation services increased to 9 511 198 in 2008. However, the number and proportion of households receiving free basic services decreased marginally to 3 113 250 (33%). This was a decrease of 0.2%

Five out of the nine provinces had reductions in the number and proportion of households receiving free basic sewerage and sanitation services. The largest reduction was for Gauteng, where the number and proportion decreased from 889 946 (42%) in 2007 to 602 353 (23%) in 2008. This was a decrease of 32%.

The largest increase in the number and proportion of households receiving free basic sewerage and sanitation services was for Mpumalanga, where the increase was from 110 975 (20%) in 2007 to 162 856 (29%). This was an increase of 47%.

The number of households receiving solid waste management services in South Africa increased by 16% from 7 812 344 in 2007 to 9 027 684 in 2008. This increase, however, was once again not due to increases in the number of households receiving free basic services, but because of the increase in the number of households paying for these services. The number and proportion of households receiving free basic solid waste management services decreased from 2 063 644 (26%) in 2007 to 1 970 095 (22%) in 2008. This was a decrease of 5%.

Only two provinces reported increases in the number of households receiving free basic solid waste management services. In the Eastern Cape, the increase was from 232 175 (34%) in 2007 to 249 782 (35%) in 2008. This was an increase of 8%. The number and proportion also increased in Mpumalanga by 45%, from 111 335 (30%) to 160 893 (41%).

 

In all four functions of local government analysed above, there were fewer recipients of free basic services in 2008 than in 2007. This is despite the fact that the number of indigent households in South Africa increased by 14% from 3 109 722 in 2007 to 3 541 361 in 2008. However, only three provinces had increases in the number of households identified as indigent from 2007 to 2008. The three were the Eastern Cape with an increase from 415 838 in 2007 to 925 828 in 2008, the Northern Cape with one from 81 827 to 107 196, and Gauteng with one from 303 351 to 962 605. An indigent household is a household whose total household income is below a certain level as determined by the municipal council annually during the budget process. This household is eligible to receive free basic services from the municipality.

- Nthamaga Kgafela