Gauteng residents more gloomy about government in past five years
SINCE the last local government elections in 2011, Gauteng residents have become more pessimistic about the state of politics in the country, with the dissatisfaction affecting all spheres of government.
Coming just over a month before the local government elections, the Gauteng CityRegion Observatory’s fourth biennial survey of the quality of life in the province shows that only 34% of respondents are satisfied with the performance of local government generally.
The research, conducted every two years, sampled 30,000 respondents from across Gauteng and is the largest social attitudes survey conducted in the province.
About 55% of respondents who took part in the survey at the beginning of the research in July and August 2015 said they were dissatisfied with local government. The figure declined to 40% by the time the survey ended in May this year.
Randfontein was the city with the highest quality of life in Gauteng, based on its municipality.
The 2015 data positioned Randfontein with the highest score of 6.38, followed by Mogale City (with a score of 6.28) and the City of Johannesburg (6.27).
Many of the survey questions related to satisfaction and dissatisfaction with government.
While key services such as water, waste, health and education have shown an increase in satisfaction, electricity satisfaction declined from 78% in 2013 to 72% in 2015, reflecting the
Randfontein is the city with the highest quality of life in Gauteng
impact of load-shedding.
The report, however, clearly states that the high levels of satisfaction with services do not translate into high levels of satisfaction with government.
The study found 43% of white people are more satisfied with local government, compared with 33% of black people.
Gauteng Premier David Makhura, who attended the release of the research report, said the provincial and local government would pay special attention to the outcomes of the survey.
“We must take these results very seriously. I am certain that the data is accurate and where we are going wrong we will take steps to make interventions,” said Makhura.
The survey found that despite the xenophobic attacks in Gauteng in 2015‚ the proportion of South Africans who agreed with the statement “Gauteng belongs to South Africans only‚ send all foreigners home” fell to 24% in 2015 from 38% in 2013. A total of 14% of residents thought it was acceptable to be violent towards gay and lesbian people.
Politically‚ 61% of people felt the country was going in the wrong direction and were concerned about this year’s municipal elections.
The results showed that only 52% agreed that the vote would be free and fair‚ dropping from 66% who agreed that the 2011 elections were free and fair.