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More adults are skipping meals in poorer households in Gauteng, as economic hardships increase.
This is what has been revealed by the biennial Quality of Life Survey for the 2017/2018 period.
The results were delivered by the Gauteng City-Region Observatory research director, Graeme Gotz at the University of Johannesburg on Tuesday morning.
The survey, which interviewed 24 889 respondents across Gauteng’s 529 wards, revealed that of the households which earn less than R3200 a month, 38% of adults had to skip a meal.
Released for the fifth time since 2009, the survey has proved to be a sought-after tool to assist government and local organisations track public sentiment towards issues such as service delivery and access to sanitation.
According to the survey, the top three concerns for respondents were crime at 32%, unemployment at 18% and drugs at 16%.
Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, deputy vice-chancellor of research at Wits University, stressed the importance of the survey and how it has grown over the years.
“This province has always been at the heart of disruptions. It’s very important to analyse the data and search for the truth,” he said, as he explained how Gauteng had been the economic hub of the country and its importance in disrupting and leading the way for the rest of the country couldn’t be ignored.
The survey is conducted by the Gauteng City-Region Observatory in partnership with the University of Johannesburg, Wits University and the Gauteng provincial government.
Fieldworkers began collecting data on October 31 last year, with the final dataset collected in September this year.
Some of the key outcomes from the survey are:
- Government satisfaction has improved, with 44% of respondents saying they’re satisfied with the way the Gauteng government has been running their municipalities, up from 39% in the 2015/2016 period;
- 86% of respondents are satisfied with their water services, up from 83% in the last survey;
- Surprisingly, public sentiment towards e-tolls seems to be improving, with more respondents now willing to pay for their e-toll bills than previous years.
Last month, Premier David Makhura maintained that the Gauteng government did not approve of the implementation of e-tolls and called for the system to be scrapped; and
-Race relations appeared to be strengthening, with more respondents agreeing that interracial dating and marriage was more acceptable.
The report revealed that 81% of those between the age of 18-24 and born after the end of apartheid strongly agree with interracial relationships, compared with 71% of respondents 60 years and older.
Gotz said that they were concerned with results that reflected dissatisfaction by its respondents, because of the direct correlation it had between engagement with government and how people would disengage from what was going on in government, such as voting during elections.
“We are concerned with government dissatisfaction. We noticed that it drives people’s responsiveness in whether or not they vote in the elections.
"The deeper the level of dissatisfaction, the more likely they are not to vote. It doesn’t matter what political party it is, it’s whether or not the respondents actually make it to the polls,” Gotz explained.
He said the respondents might also be satisfied with things like service delivery or access to sanitation, but may not act on their right to vote because of their overall satisfaction or dissatisfaction levels.
Makhura, who was present during the morning’s event, said that he was a keen follower of the work that went into collecting the data, because it helped him focus on key areas which needed attention, such as struggling municipalities.
“The work that we are doing as the Gauteng provincial government is driven by the findings of the Gauteng City-Region Observatory,” he said.
Makhura also emphasised that he would meet with various mayors in order to address the levels of dissatisfaction that had been revealed in the survey.
“Although the survey shows significant satisfaction with the provincial government, I am concerned with the decline of service delivery in Tshwane, Merafong, Emfuleni and Rand West.
"I will meet with the mayors of the affected municipalities to work on a recovery plan,” Makhura said.
The survey shows that there were high levels of dissatisfaction in Emfuleni, due to issues such as refuse collection, with only 19% of respondents in Emfuleni satisfied with their roads. 64% of Emfuleni’s residents were dissatisfied with their municipality’s administrators.
Makhura would also address the issue of crime, and said that he had already engaged the minister of police, Bheki Cele, on establishing a high-calibre crime unit.
