The Economist article Cry, the Beloved Country, stated in its blurb: “South Africa is sliding downhill”. This view was countered in a widely published letter recently by former FirstRand CEO Paul Harris, who declared: “… for as long as I can remember there have always been people who think SA has five years left before we go over the cliff. No change from when I was at school in the sixties.”
The state of the country is not only a hot media topic, but something ordinary South Africans often debate and engage on at work or at a braai. The age-old question of whether South Africa has moved forward or regressed never fails to raise emotion – and sometimes even tempers.
For those passionate debaters who constantly contemplate the state of our country, the release of the 2011 census offers some unbiased answers about our progress since democracy.
Census 2011 was the third national population and housing count in post-apartheid South Africa.
The first having been in 1996 and the second in 2001. President Jacob Zuma described the census report as follows:
“This is the tale of our national pride, the South Africa I know, the home I understand, our census report.”
The overall results show that as a nation we have made steady progress in many areas. It confirms that while there is still much work to do we are moving in the right direction. The census shows significant improvements in the provision of basic services to a growing population which has now reached 51.8 million.
The everyday lives of many South Africans have changed in respect of accessibility to electricity. The households that used electricity for lighting increased from 58.2% in 1996 to 84.7% in 2011, while households that used electricity for cooking increased from 47.5% to 73.9% over the same period. This figure is set to rise. Eskom CEO Brian Dames recently stated that Eskom was working towards every household having electricity by 2020.
The proportion of households living in formal dwellings also increased from 65.1% in 1996 to 77.6% in 2011.
There was a substantial increase in households that had access to piped water from 80.3% in 1996 to 91.2% in 2011. Households that have flush toilets connected to the sewerage system increased from 50% in 2001 to 57% in 2011. Households with no toilets declined significantly from the 13.3% in 2001 to the 5.2% in 2011.
Although great advances have been made in basic services, hard work still lies ahead.
The Presidential Infrastructure Coordination Council has prioritised providing adequate water and sanitation to all South Africans as one of the 18 Strategic Infrastructure Projects (SIPS). The Water and Sanitation Infrastructure Master Plan is a 10-year plan, which will address the backlog of adequate water supply to 1.4 million households as well as providing 2.1 million households with basic sanitation.
The state of our education is a much debated issue for many South Africans.
However, trends in school enrolment and overall educational performance show significant improvement since 1996. According to the 2011 Census results more children between the ages of five to 15 have been attending school.
Enrolment for the five-year-old age group which was at 22.5% per cent at the 1996 Census, leapt to 81.2% in the latest results. For the six-year-old age group, these figures were 49.1% in 1996 and 92.7% in 2011.
The results also show that individuals aged 20 and older, who have no schooling, halved from 19.1% in 1996 to 8.6% in 2011.
It is also heartening to note that the proportion of people who completed higher education has increased from 7.1% in 1996 to 12.1% in 2011.
The census figures will feed into the implementation plans of the National Development Plan (NDP) which is government’s vision for South Africa by 2030.
Through the NDP, government will make early childhood development a top priority, with all children attending at least two years of pre-school education. We also set a 2030 target of about 90% of learners in grades 3, 6 and 9 achieving 50% or above in literacy, mathematics and science. Moreover, the plan aims for 80% of learners to successfully complete the full 12 years of schooling. It also aspires to increase the graduation rates with more than 25%.
Another NDP target is to eradicate school infrastructure backlogs so that all schools meet the minimum standards by 2016. We will accomplish this through SIP13 which focuses on the National School Building programme.
Through this programme, there are 9434 school projects in the pipeline to address backlogs of inappropriate schools and in supplying basic services to schools as well as building classrooms, school libraries and computer labs.
The 2011 census shows that while the average household income increased 113% over the last 10 years, well above the pace to stay ahead of inflation, household income inequality remains a concern for government.
The NDP aims to rectify inequality as well as change our unemployment and poverty picture. By 2030, government wants to create 11 million more jobs through our Build Programme as well as other initiatives.
The Plan also targets an unemployment rate of 6% by 2030. The NDP aims to reduce the number of households living below the poverty line – R418 a month per person – from 39% to zero by 2030. The level of inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient should fall from 0.7 in 2009 to 0.6 by 2030. The 2011 census tells a convincing story of a country that has indeed improved in the past 18 years and points to areas that require greater attention.
Now that we know where the country is after 18 years, government can put the census figures to good use by implementing and tweaking initiatives and relocating resources to ensure that we reach our 2030 targets.
Phumla Williams is Acting CEO of the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS)
