Mantsopa

Mantsopa Local Municipality is situated in the Eastern Free State and covers an area of 345 square kilometres. The five towns situated in Mantsopa are Ladybrand, Hob House, Tweespruit, Thaba-Phatswa and Excelsior.  Mantsopa Local Municipality was established on 5 December 2000 and is comprised of the previous areas of jurisdiction of Tweespruit Transitional Local Council (TLC), Ladybrand TLC, Hobhouse TLC, Excelsior TLC, ThabaPatchoa TLC and Maluti Transitional Rural Council. It forms part of the Eastern Free State and falls within the Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipal area. It borders the Kingdom of Lesotho in the East, Mangaung Local Municipality to the west, Naledi Local Municipality to the south and Masilonyana and Setsoto to the north. The area is accessible via the N8 and R26 roads which traverse the area. A railway line that runs along these routes services the area.

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Mangaung

Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality is a Category A municipality. It is situated in the Free State province, in the central interior of South Africa.  The Free State is bordered by Gauteng, the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and North West provinces, as well as the neighbouring country of Lesotho.

Mangaung, meaning “the place of the cheetah”, accentuates the vibrant, dynamic and energetic character of the tourism industry in the “City on the move (at the heart of it all)”.  The economy is strongly driven by the government sector, which has seen the fastest growth in the last five years as a result of increased government programmes in livelihoods improvement interventions.  The finance sector is the second-fastest growing sector due to very active estate and construction activities. Small businesses have a major role to play in the Mangaung economy, in terms of employment creation, income generation and output growth.

Cities/Towns: Bloemfontein, Botshabelo, Mangaung, Thaba Nchu Main Economic Sectors: Government services, finance

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Vulamehlo

The Vulamehlo Local Municipality forms part of the  Ugu District Municipality. It is located south of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality and is bordered by Umdoni Local Municipality to the east, Mkhambathini and Richmond local municipalities to the north, and Ubuhlebezwe Local Municipality to the west. The municipal area is predominantly tribal with common tribal land patterns. There are, however, also a few scattered pockets of privately owned land throughout the municipal area. The dispersed, low-density settlement pattern makes the provision of physical and social infrastructure (roads, water, electricity, clinics, schools, and police stations) difficult and the cost of installation, maintaining and operating the infrastructure very high. The Vulamehlo Local Municipality is one of the localities within the Ugu District that are hardest hit by high unemployment levels, poverty, and a negative economic growth rate. (Source: www.kzncogta.gov.za)read more »

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Indaka

Indaka Municipality is a newly established municipality (established 18 December 2000), which is mainly rural. The municipality shares borders with Emnambithi, Endumeni, Msinga and Umtshezi municipalities and is situated 49 km east of Ladysmith.

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Jozini

Jozini Local Municipality is under Umkhanyakude District Municipality, located in the north eastern part of Kwazulu Natal.  The municipality shares a border with Swaziland to the west and Mozambique to the north.  It  covers 3057 km² of the total  area  of Umkhanyakude  District Municipality.  Jozini was predominatly a rural municipality with 89% of the population residing in rural areas under the jurisdiction of tradional authorities. Main towns *** Census 2011 reveals that Jozini is the most populated municipalty within Umkhanyakude making up (186 502) 29.8% of the Umkhanyakude District. Jozini has a large dam constructed on the Phongola River on the eastern end of a narrow gorge separating the Lebombo  and Ubombo mountains.  The main towns include Ingwavuma, Jozini, uBombo, Bhambanana, Mkuze and Ndumo.read more »

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Poverty

Poverty is a key development challenge in social, economic and political terms; not only in South Africa but throughout the developing world. In post-apartheid South Africa, fighting the legacy of poverty and under-development has always been a central theme of Government. This was cemented in the Reconstruction and Development Plan (RDP) of 1994 and reiterated in the National Development Plan (NDP) published in 2011.

The guiding objectives of the NDP is the elimination of poverty and the reduction in inequality and all the elements of the plan must demonstrate their effect on these two objectives. The Living Conditions Survey (LCS) and the Income and Expenditure Survey (IES) conducted by Stats SA are the two primary contributors toward profiling and monitoring poverty and inequality over time.

These two surveys are fundamental components to the survey programme of any statistical agency. They are the leading tools for the measurement of absolute poverty and inequality and they are an extremely important building block for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to stay current with the changing spending and consumption patterns of the country.

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South Africa and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

In the year 2000 the South African government, along with other members of the United Nations (UN), committed to a national and global plan of action to reduce poverty and ensure the development of its people. The sixth and final Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Country Report for 2015 provides an overview of the progress South Africa has made towards achieving the eight MDGs. In addition, it provides an historical account of South Africa’s development in numbers. The MDGs are:

1. To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. To promote universal primary education
3. To promote gender equality and empower women
4. To reduce child mortality
5. To improve maternal health
6. To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7. To ensure environmental sustainability
8. To develop a global partnership for the development.

This report reflects the intense national effort, from a range of institutions, organisations and individuals, to improve the lives of all South Africans; particularly the poor and marginalised. A great many people have contributed to this report through their participation in various consultative fora across the country, often at great expense and sacrifice. What started 15 years ago certainly does not end here, and reporting on development issues will continue through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is therefore critical that South Africa’s unfinished MDG business, as well as emerging developmental issues, be appropriately integrated within the SDGs in a manner that places the spotlight on them, while providing adequate direction and impetus for effective planning, development of appropriate policies and budgets, and the construction of appropriate national monitoring and reporting systems.

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Unemployment

Employment is a key economic indicator and it is sensitive to the business cycle. For example employment peaked in 2008 to approximately 13,8 million when the economy was better. However, during the recession of 2009 and 2010 approximately 806 000 persons lost their jobs. After these two successive years of decline, employment grew by 204 000 and 258 000 persons in 2011 and 2012 respectively. Community & social services industry contributed the most to the growth in employment observed in the past two years. This was followed by Finance and other business services.read more »

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Causes of Death 2013

The registration of deaths in South Africa is governed by the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1992 (Act No. 51 of 1992), as amended. The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) uses death notification form DHA-1663 to register all deaths and stillbirths. Stats SA collects completed death notification forms from the DHA head office for data processing, analysis, report writing and dissemination. Causes of death statistics are compiled in accordance with the World Health Organization (WHO) regulations that require that member nations classify and code causes of death using the tenth revision of the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10). Statistics from civil registration are the only national source of information on mortality and causes of death in South Africa. Such information is invaluable for the assessment and monitoring of the health status of the population and for planning of adequate health interventions. Accordingly, these statistics are also essential in tracking progress and monitoring key development objectives outlined in the National Development Plan (NDP) adopted by the South African government in 2012. The plan asserts that health care can be improved through decreasing mortality by combating infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS and the emerging tide of non-communicable diseases. The government objective, ‘Health care for all by 2030’ outlined in the NDP is aimed at reducing child and infant mortality; maternal mortality; and combating HIV/AIDS and other diseases by 2030.read more »

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