More people continued to rely on state coffers as the percentage of individuals that benefited from social grants increased from 12,7% in 2003 to 30,2% in 2013, before declining slightly to 29% in 2014. Concurrently, the percentage of households that received at least one grant increased from 29,9% to 45,5% in 2013 before declining slightly to 44,5% in 2014. This is according to the results of the latest General Household Survey (GHS) which was conducted by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) between January and December 2014.
The survey further indicates that nationally, 33,4% of individuals aged 5 years and older attended an educational institution. Approximately 87% of South African individuals above the age of five years who attended educational institutions were in either primary or high school, while 4,9% attended tertiary institutions. Lack of money for fees remained the primary reason a large proportion of individuals in this age group were not studying. Less than one quarter (23,5%) of premature school-leavers in this age group blamed ‘a lack of money’ for not studying.
The percentage of learners who reported that they were exempt from paying school fees increased from 0,4% in 2002 to 65,4% in 2014. Provinces with the highest proportions of learners exempt from paying school fees were Limpopo (92%) and Eastern Cape (81,5%). Learners were least likely to benefit from the ‘no fee’ system in Gauteng (45,3%) and Western Cape (40,7%). Generally, the percentage of learners who experienced corporal punishment at school in 2014 has decreased nationally since 2011; 12,4% of learners reportedly experienced corporal punishment at school in 2014 compared with 16,7% in 2011.
The GHS also reveals that almost seven-tenths (69,3%) of households went to public clinics or hospitals first when household members fell ill or got injured. By comparison, more than a quarter (28,9%) of households indicated that they would go to private doctors, private clinics or hospitals. The study found that 81,7% of households that attended public healthcare facilities were either very satisfied or satisfied with the service they received compared to 92% of households that attended private healthcare facilities. A slightly larger percentage of households that attended public facilities (5,1%) as opposed to private facilities (0,7%) were very dissatisfied with the service they received.
Although 90% of South African households had access to piped water in 2013, only 78,5% of Eastern Cape households enjoyed such access. This situation does, however, represent a substantial improvement from 2002 when only 73,9% of households in this province had access to piped water.
Nationally, 61,4% of households rated the quality of water-related services they received as ‘good’. Satisfaction has, however, been eroding steadily since 2005 when 76,4% of users rated the services as ‘good’. An estimated 46,3% of households had access to piped water in their dwellings in 2014. A further 27% accessed water within the yard while 14% relied on communal taps and 2,7% relied on neighbours’ taps. Although households’ access to water is generally improving, 4,2% of households still had to fetch water from rivers, streams, stagnant water pools and dams, wells and springs in 2014. This is a decrease of more than five percentage points from the 9,5% of households that had to get water from these sources in 2002.
Nationally, percentage of households that rated electricity supply as ‘good’ have decreased to 66,5% nationally from 68% in 2013. Concurrently, 18,2% of households that paid for electricity, either post-paid or pre-paid, reported that they had electrical interruptions in the six months before they were surveyed.
Nationally, the percentage of households with access to ‘RDP-standard’ sanitation increased from 62,3% in 2002 to 79,5% in 2014. The majority of households in Western Cape (94,6%) and Gauteng (90,9%) had access to adequate sanitation, while about half those in Limpopo (54,0%) and just below two-thirds of those in Mpumalanga (64,3%) had adequate access. Despite the improved access to RDP-standard sanitation facilities, many households continue to be without any proper sanitation facilities. Nationally, the percentage of households that continued to live without proper sanitation facilities had been declining consistently between 2002 and 2014, decreasing from 12,3% in 2002 to 4,9% during this period. About one-quarter of households were concerned by poor lighting and inadequate hygiene, while 22% felt that their physical safeties were threatened when using their toilets.
One-fifth complained that there was no water to wash their hands after they had used toilet facilities, and another 21% pointed to long waiting times to use toilets.
Between 2002 and 2014, the percentage of households that lived in formal dwellings and whose dwellings were fully owned increased from 52,9% to 55,3% while the percentage of partially-owned dwellings declined from 15,5% to 10,6%. About 12% of households had ‘other’ forms of tenure arrangements in 2014.
The percentage of households for which refuse were removed at least once per week increased from 56,7% in 2002 to 64% in 2014. The percentage of households that had to rely on their own or communal rubbish dumps and those that had no facilities at all decreased. Various modes of refuse removal are closely aligned with particular geographic areas. Households in urban areas were much more likely to receive some rubbish removal service than those in rural areas, and rural households were therefore much more likely to rely on their own rubbish dumps.
Almost half of South African households (48,7%) had at least one member who used the Internet either at home, the workplace, place of study, or Internet cafés. More than half of the households in Western Cape (62,1%) and Gauteng (59,9%) had access to the Internet while only nearly a third of households in Limpopo (32,6%) had access to the Internet.
Less than a fifth of South African households (18,3%) were involved in agricultural production. Most crop production took place in backyard gardens. More than three-quarters (77,5%) of households that were involved in agriculture were involved in an attempt to secure an additional source of food. Food production consisted of grains (51,9%), fruit and vegetables (51,5%), poultry (35,1%) and livestock (45,2%). Only 13,0% of the households involved in agriculture reported getting agricultural-related support from the government.
The full report is available on the Statistics South Africa website: www.statssa.gov.za
For technical enquiries:
Kefiloe Masiteng
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