Life in Gauteng ‘better than five years ago’
Survey shows improved access to basic services
The quality of life of Gauteng residents has improved since the administration of premier David Makhura took over five years ago.
This was revealed by the recent Gauteng City Region Observatory’s Quality of Life Survey, which shows that there has been a continued improvement in the overall quality of life in Gauteng over the past four observatory surveys. In his recent state of the province address, Makhura said Gauteng had undergone major changes in its social structure, economy, infrastructure and the quality of life of its citizens, indicating that access to basic services had increased from an average of 60% in 1994 to an average of 85% last year.
“The 2018 Quality of Life Survey records that access to formal dwelling is at 81%; piped water at 91%; electricity at 92%; sanitation at 91% and refuse removal is at 83%,” he said.
The premier said the survey also recorded that home ownership among the poor was high in Gauteng.
“The government housing programme has delivered more than 1,2-million houses in Gauteng, providing decent shelter to more than 4-million people. Consequently, Gauteng residents have experienced continuous significant improvement in the quality of life, and their level of satisfaction with basic services and infrastructure is above the national average.”
The population of Gauteng, which is the smallest province in terms of size, has doubled from 7.8-million people in 1996 to 14.7-million, making it the most populous province in the country. “Essentially, one in every four South Africans live in Gauteng. Our economy has grown five times, from R290bn in 1996 to R1.5-trillion in 2017.”
The province was the economic and industrial hub of SA as well as the seventhlargest economy on the continent, said the premier. “The number of people employed in the Gauteng economy has also doubled from 2,6-million in 1996 to 5,163-million in 2018. “The size of the public education and public healthcare system has also doubled,” said the premier. Makhura added that in 1994 there had been 1,2-million learners in public education in the province and today there were 2,3-million. “Today Gauteng’s public health system serves 20-million healthcare users per annum compared to 7-million in 1994.
“The built environment of our province has changed profoundly as a result of the scale of investments in new social and economic infrastructure – new houses, schools, libraries, hospitals, clinics, social amenities, police stations, roads and other public transport infrastructure.” Makhura added that the better opportunities and better living standards offered by the province had resulted in a high rate of migration into the province. “These qualitative changes in the lives of the people represent a towering monument of progress during the 25 years of our democracy,” he said. “Working together with all sectors of the population of our province, we must do everything in our power to ensure that this progress is consolidated and the opportunities are enjoyed by all.”
He paid tribute to the residents of the province, saying Gauteng was a home to excellence in many areas of human endeavour.
“Our province is endowed with citizens who are self-driven, well-informed and better educated; they are eternally optimistic, more resilient and always determined to succeed against all odds; they refuse to live a life of despondency and despair.”
Makhura said despite the province’s achievements, his administration would not rest on its laurels.
He said the core mandate of the fifth administration was the transformation, modernisation and reindustrialisation of the Gauteng City Region so that it could offer a better life for all the residents of the province.
“In this regard, the education, training and empowerment of the children and youth of our province remain the number one priority of the provincial government in the effort to transform, modernise and reindustrialise Gauteng. Investing in people is the most decisive act of national development.
“It is through education that we can unleash creativity and cultivate the spirit of resilience among citizens.
“Over the past 25 years, this province has transformed the racialised public education system inherited from apartheid into a qualitatively improved system that offers better education to all learners, including those from the townships.”