Community Survey Results show Operation Hlasela making impact in the lives of the people
On Wednesday, 6 June 2016, Statistician General, Mr. Pali Lehohla, officially handed over the results of the 2016 Community Survey for Free State province to Premier Ace Magashule.
Whilst the official collector of statistics, Statistics South Africa, is expected to release the detailed results by September 2016, the summary handed over to the Free State Premier and his Executive Council showed that a lot of progress had been made in a number of areas.
“Our service delivery model, Operation Hlasela, has definitely played a role in turning the situation around”, a visibly proud Premier Ace Magashule said.
According to the Community Survey 2016 report, the following findings were made, amongst others:
- The percentage of people in Free State residing in formal dwellings (proper houses) increased from 71.0 percent in 2007 to 83.6 percent in 2016, an increase of 2.6 percentage points;
- The percentage of Free State households with access to piped water in the dwelling increased from 22.8 percent in 2007 to 37.8 percent in 2016, and those with access to piped water in the yard increased from 47.7 percent to 54.83 percent in 2016;
- In the 5 year period from 2011 and 2016, the number of households with a flush or chemical toilet increased by 144 561 households from 557 436 to 702 997 households. This essentially means that from 2011, about 80 households were provided with a flush or chemical toilet each day;
- 890 124 households or 94.0 percent of all households in the province are now connected to electricity supply. In 2007, only 75.2 percent of Free State households used electricity for cooking, according to the Community Survey report for 2007;
- From 2011 until 2016, Free State decreased its poverty rate by 1.2 percent from 42.2 percent to 41.7 percent. The Free State provincial government shall never celebrate while people are still poor. The government does however welcome the decline in the poverty rate as a sign that the march towards the total alleviation of poverty is on course;
- At 41.7 percent, the Free State province has the second lowest poverty rate after Western Cape. Rea hlasela!
The Free State provincial government knows that a lot of work must be done to ensure a better life for all our people. The Provincial government, under the visionary leadership of Premier Ace Magashule, strongly believes that together, we can build better communities.
Premier Ace Magashule wishes to thank the provincial government, national government, municipalities, entities, State Owned Companies, labour movements, academic institutions, faith-based organisations, religious leaders, private business, community based organisations, political organisations and society at large for the role they have played.
“Without the collective involvement of all sections of society in the advancement of our province through Operation Hlasela, the situation would be different. Thank you to everybody” – Premier Ace Mgashule said.
Enquiries:
Tiisetso Makhele
Premier’s Spokesperson
Cell: 076 833 0033
Pulane Tsupane
Cell: 071 302 2595
