The information on basic services is presented for each of the 231 local municipalities and the 6 metropolitan municipalities. The information is presented at a national, provincial and municipal perspective.
The main purpose of this publication is to get a sense of the various information sources, and an appreciation of the differences in its methodology. This will provide a basis for robust debate and further work on streamlining processes to measure more consistently the status and progress with regard to basic services, as we gear to achieve universal access by 2014. It will also serve as a reference for planning and resource allocation between the census years. There is a 10 year gap in the census information per municipality, making it difficult to plan and allocate resources for infrastructure in the years between censuses.
The difference in methodology by which the data was captured is key in understanding the variances among the different sources of information. The General Household Survey and Community Survey use various sampling techniques. In the case of the General Household Survey (GHS), 30 000 dwelling units are covered and in case of the Community Survey 2007 (CS), the sample size was 17 098 Enumerator Areas (EA’s).
The Department of Water and Environmental Affairs (DWEA) and the Department of
Energy (DE) on the other hand use the 2001 census as a base, and update their data sets annually. The 2009 figure supplied by the municipalities for basic water and sanitation make up the municipal source data and were captured in a template via the comprehensive infrastructure planning process. A pre-populated template with service delivery information from mainly Stats SA was sent to municipalities. The municipalities corrected the information and returned the completed template to COGTA. In the case of free basic services, a similar method of making available a template to municipalities to complete is applied.
Control measures and quality controls were applied to data on free basic services received from the municipalities (Annexure A, Data Collection Methodology).
Understanding the need to start somewhere, given the contestation around service delivery statistics, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Statistics South Africa and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) was signed on 06 June 2009. Prior to the signing of the MOU, officials from COGTA, Stats SA and sector departments worked as a collective on the various information sources, focusing on its methodology, limitations and purpose. In this way a shared understanding of variances among the various data sets has been presented in a very constructive manner that simply indicates where we are with regard to access to water, sanitation, electricity and refuse removal and the backlogs per municipality.
Personnel from Stats SA, COGTA, relevant sector departments, National Treasury, South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and municipalities worked together under the umbrella of the Municipal Data Quality Improvement Programme to achieve this publication. It is from this very basic presentation of service delivery information per municipality that our attention is drawn to some very interesting trends.
The various information sources (GHS, 2008, CS 2007, DWEA, 2008, Municipalities,
2009) presented in this publication indicate that more than 80% of households in the country have access to water at a basic level of service which is a stand pipe within 200 metres from the household, as a minimum. With regard to sanitation more than 67% of households in the country have access to sanitation at a basic level of service which is a ventilated improved latrine per household, as a minimum.
72,7 % of households are connected to the grid (DME, 2008) and 59% of all households in the country have access to adequate refuse removal service at least once per week (CS, 2007). In terms of the percentage access of households to basic water, sanitation, electricity, and refuse removal the information for GHS (2007), CS (2007), DWEA (2008) and municipalities (2009) are variable, yet comparable in terms of the trends exhibited. The percentage variation among the various data sources may be due to: (i) differences in the date stamp, (ii) methodology by which the data was gathered by the different entities, (iii) variances in the total number of households and (iv) interpretation of service levels for water, sanitation, electricity and refuse removal and the application thereof.
Comparative analysis of the backlog figures for water and sanitation indicate higher figures from municipal sources. Stats SA 2007, reporting 11,3% of households below a basic level of service, DWEA 2008, reporting 10,3% and Municipal sources reporting 19,3%.
In terms of Free Basic Services, the information from Statistics SA underscores the coverage of free basic water, sanitation, electricity and refuse removal as reported by municipalities. The differences are attributable to ascertaining the actual number of indigent household per municipality and difference in methodology used to gather the data with regard to basic services.
Whilst this publication deals with the quantification of the services backlog per sector, a parallel process addresses how individual households are experiencing all services. This is achieved through the development Universal Household Access to Basic Services (uHABS) Index. The uHABS index indicates service delivery progress with regard to water, sanitation, electricity and domestic refuse removal, as reported by households in the community survey 2007 (Annexure C).
It is anticipated that this report will:
To see the full report visit the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs’s website and download the document.
http://www.thedplg.gov.za/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_details&gid=443&Itemid=27
