Few weeks ago, the South African Cities Network (SACN) released its most recent State of South African Cities report. And as per the report, about one out of five individuals in a portion of the country’s biggest urban communities – including Johannesburg and Cape Town – live in informal housing.
Of the nine districts under the micro lens, Nelson Mandela Bay had the littlest level of individuals in informal housing – 6.1% of its 1.2 million residents.
It also tracked down that in Cape Town and Johannesburg, almost half (45%) of residents lived on under R1 300 a month in 2016. With regards to food security, Cape Town fell off most exceedingly terrible, with about one out of four residents having satisfactory access to food in 2018.
In other regions, several residents were much further underneath the breadline. In Mangaung 36.6% of individuals lived on under R714 each month, while in Ekurhuleni 35.9% of people lived on under R992 each month.
Even now, urban populations are still growing. The population of Johannesburg grew by just under 30% since 2011, and housing remains a challenge. In the City of Johannesburg, 21.7% of its 5.7 million residents lived in informal settlements by 2018 – down only marginally from 22.8% in 2015.
However, it also had the most significant level of joblessness at 35.7% in 2020.
In Msunduzi, which includes Pietermaritzburg, around a fifth of residents live in casual houses, which at 20.9%. In the City of Ekurhuleni in Gauteng, 19.9% of its 3.8 million residents lived in informal settlements in 2018; whilst in Cape Town, Western Cape, this applied to 19.3% of its 4.5 million inhabitants.
The report also tracked down that in the City of Tshwane, 16.8% of its around 3.6 million residents lived in informal housing in 2018, followed by Mangaung (11.7%) and the City of Ethekwini (13%).
Tshwane was the most food secure, with 91.3% of its inhabitants getting sufficient access to food.
As per officials of SACN, the discoveries of the report clearly demonstrate that the government can’t be the sole caretaker of urban development in South Africa. Partnership with the private sector, and support of all circles will be required.
Explaining the issue, SACN officials noticed that joblessness in the country is perhaps the biggest element emerging out of this. Every one of the urban communities showed an increase in joblessness somewhere in the range of 2016 and 2020, aside from Cape Town and Ekurhuleni.
The investigation discovered that in 2020, Nelson Mandela Bay had the highest level of joblessness, specifically 35.7%; followed by Msunduzi (34.2%), Johannesburg (32.6%), Mangaung (32.5%), Ekurhuleni (32.3%), Buffalo City (29.7%), Tshwane (29.1%), Cape Town (22.5%) and Ethekwini (22%).
The important role played by the informal sector is reflected in its contribution of 22% to employment in Buffalo City, the report highlights. In Johannesburg the informal sector contributes 21% of employment, followed by 18% in both Nelson Mandela Bay and Mangaung, 14% in Ethekwini, 13% in Ekurhuleni, 12% in Cape Town and 10% in Tshwane. No data is available for Msunduzi.
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Residents of Cape Town seem to live the longest – on 65.6 years in 2020. In Johannesburg, Tswhane and Ekurhuleni your life expectancy is 63.7 years, while it is 59.6 years in Nelson Mandela Bay and Buffalo City. Ethekwini and Msunduzi come in at 57.1%, while the life expectancy in Mangaung is the lowest at 54.5%.
Nelson Mandela Bay is the municipality studied with the largest percentage of its population – 21.6% – receiving social grants (including older person’s grants), followed by Buffalo City (20%), Mangaung (19%) and Ethekwini (14.6%), Tshwane (9.7%), Cape Town (9.3%), Ekurhuleni (8.1%) and Johannesburg (5.9%). No data is available for Msunduzi.
On climate, the report found issues connecting with waste removal and littering to be a major issue for some residents – for 68.2% of the residents of Mangaung, Buffalo City (48.4%), for 46.8% in Johannesburg and Ethekwini, and for 42% of residents in Nelson Mandela Bay.
Meanwhile, issues with land degradation is a challenge for 52% of residents of Mangaung and for 27.3% of residents in Tshwane.
