The poverty rate—the proportion of households with an income below R800 a month — was highest in the Alfred Nzo District Municipality in the Eastern Cape at 76%, followed by the Greater Sekhukhune District Municipality in Limpopo at 70%.

 

The highest level of deprivation as measured by the Health Systems Trust was 4.5 out of 5 (with 5 being the highest level and 0 the lowest). This score was obtained by the Alfred Nzo and O R Tambo District Municipalities in the Eastern Cape, and the uMkhanyakude District Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal. The lowest deprivation score was 0.9 in the West Coast District Municipality.

 

The municipality with the worst deprivation score also had the worst matric results in 2008, while the one with the best score had the best. The lowest matric pass rate was 39% for uMkhanyakude, while the highest was 89% for the West Coast.

 

The link between poverty rates and matric results may arise from the fact that public schools in poorer communities are more likely to be dependent on the State for all resources, while those in wealthier areas can have their resources supplemented through higher school fees and more successful fundraising activities There are also more teachers in schools in more affluent communities because these schools can hire teachers who are paid by school governing bodies.

The white population in every municipality had the highest rate of employment compared to other races. The municipality with the highest overall rate of employment was the City of Johannesburg.

The highest rate of employment there was that of the white population at 71% of the potential workforce (people aged 15 to 64), followed by the Indian population at 60%, the coloured population at 49%, and the African population at 47%.

 

The rates of employment were lowest in the Zululand District Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal at 21% for Africans, 22% for coloured people, 25%for Indians, and 64% for whites.

 

 The proportion of households classified as having no income was largest in the Greater Sekhukhune District Municipality in Limpopo at 39%. The smallest was 7% for the West Coast and Central Karoo District Municipalities in the Western Cape. With high unemployment and non economically active rates in many municipalities, large proportions of poor communities are dependent on the State.

 

The extent to which households are reliant on the State is illustrated by the distribution of child support grants. The proportion of the population receiving such grants was largest in the O R Tambo District Municipality with more than a quarter (27%) of the population dependent on the grant. The smallest proportion was 6% for the Overberg District Municipality in the Western Cape.

 

In order to access the child support grant for a child born on or after 1 October 1994, a single parent, grandparent, or anyone who is mainly responsible for looking after the child must have an annual income below R28 800. A married couple should have a combined income below R57 600.

Municipalities serving poor communities are also less likely to be able to afford to provide basic services than those with wealthier communities. This is partly because of their low rate-paying base, which undermines their ability to raise their own funds. Another factor is that the municipal infrastructure grant, in terms of which the central government provides support to municipal capital budgets to fund new infrastructure and to upgrade existing infrastructure, has the condition that the municipality must have sufficient future income to operate and maintain the infrastructure. Thus richer municipalities receive larger grants than poor municipalities. This further exacerbates inequalities.

 

The differences in the levels of basic service delivery are significant. The municipality with the largest proportions of households without basic services was O R Tambo with 62%, 55%, and 65% of households without water, electricity, and sanitation respectively. The one with the smallest proportions was the West Coast with 2%, 6%, and 4%.

 

The largest proportion of households living in formal houses was 96% for the Central Karoo; the smallest was 24% for O R Tambo. The municipality with the largest proportion of households residing in informal dwellings was the Bojanala Platinum District Municipality in the North West with 33%. There were three municipalities which had the smallest proportions of informal dwellings at 1.6%. These were Alfred Nzo, the Ugu District Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, and the Central Karoo.

 

This is because most people build shacks near areas where they are more likely to find work, such as in Bojanala where the prospect of employment in the platinum mines is higher than in other areas in the province. Many people have lived in these informal dwellings for decades. People who live in rural areas build formal and traditional homes, among other reasons, because these are permanent residences.

 

-       Nthamaga Kgafela