Cape Town - While more people in South Africa seem to be receiving municipal services, concerns have been expressed that mushrooming informal settlements could be contributing to increased indigent households and the increased use of bucket toilets.
Statistics South Africa released the Non-Financial Census of Municipalities (NFCM) on Tuesday for the financial year 2019/ 2020.
The report highlighted among others service delivery of water, electricity and solid waste management, sewage and sanitation across the country’s 257 municipalities.
For the period under review, sewerage and sanitation increased by 4.3% followed by water at 3.9%, then electricity and solid waste management both with 2.3%.
However, bucket toilets provided by municipalities to households increased by 4 696 to 11.1%.
Six provinces including the Western Cape still provided bucket toilets however the province saw a decrease of 877 to 598.
Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke said: “According to 2020 estimates, there were 3.6 million indigent households as identified by municipalities. Out of this total, 2.7 million indigent households benefited from the indigent support system for water, while 2.1 million benefited from free basic electricity provided by municipalities. The report further reveals that 2 million indigent households benefited from the indigent support system for sewerage and sanitation and 2.4 million indigent households benefited from the indigent support system for solid waste management.”
The South African Local Government Association (Salga) said it welcomed the NFCM, as it noted the encouraging increased access to all trading services.
Salga spokesperson Sivuyile Mbambato said this was vital as water and sanitation services were rights-based basic services.
“This tells us that, despite the many challenges faced by the local governments, water services authorities are hard at work to ensure increasing access to water and sanitation to all communities in South Africa. In real terms this means people who have never had these basic services in their homes, now have access. This is an important milestone in realising the ideals cherished in our Constitution,” said Mbambato.
He expressed concern at the increase in the provision of bucket toilets prevalent in informal settlements.
“We collectively understand the need for dignity in the provision of sanitation services and more effort must be put into ensuring the dignity of all our communities. It is also concerning to note that there was a decrease in access to free basic water and sanitation services. While this decrease can be attributed to changes in how municipalities determine who qualifies for Free Basic Services (FBS), it also means less existing consumers receive such services.
“In a stagnant economy with increasing levels of unemployment across all municipalities, one would expect more people to be eligible for FBS. This challenge is underlined by the fact that only 75% of the 3.6 million indigent households benefited from the indigent support system for water. This should not be interpreted as municipalities not wanting to provide services, but their financial position making it impossible to provide such services,” said Mbambato.
Professor Zwelinzima Ndevu of Stellenbosch University's School of Public Leadership said the report painted a picture of increased demand for basic services within municipalities which could be owing to population growth, high levels of unemployment, economic development and greater dependence on the government by communities.
“However the municipalities lack the required capacity, financial and technical expertise to meet this demand. A glaring picture of under performance when it comes to provision of services is evident when one looks at the gaps between demand and supply clearly shows that urgent intervention is required to turn the situation around,” said Ndevu.
He explained that a shortage of specialised skills within the sector might be contributing also to high vacancy rate.
“High labour turnover in critical skills is another contributor to the retention, we should maybe consider long-term contracts for senior managers,” he said.
Cape Times