The answer might surprise you. Stats SA’s recently released Financial census of municipalities report, for 2016, provides in-depth detail on the financial state of South Africa’s municipalities, including levels of debt. How solvent are South African municipalities? To answer that question, we turn to a financial ratio called the debt ratio. The debt ratio is   read more »

With South Africa formally in recession and hoping for some good news, the latest employment figures released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) holds no reprieve. According to the March 2017 Quarterly Employment Survey (QES), an estimated 9 644 000 persons were employed in the formal non-agricultural sector of the South African economy. This reflected   read more »

The results of the Quarterly Employment Survey for the first quarter of 2017 released by Statistics South Africa today, show a decline of 48 000 jobs (or -0.5%) to 9 644 000  in the formal non-agricultural sector in the quarter ended in March 2017.  This is a decline of 58 000 jobs when compared to the same period last   read more »

South Africa’s 47 national government departments spent R137 billion on compensation of employees during the 2015/16 fiscal year. Which departments paid their employees the most in terms of compensation? Stats SA breaks it down for you. According to the data, sourced from the latest Financial statistics of national government report1, 70% of the R137 billion   read more »

In this month of June, South Africans commemorate the 1976 June 16 uprising when more than 15 000 students in Soweto took to the streets to march against the Bantu education policies. Every year, June 16 is National Youth Day and is declared a public holiday. Although the youth of 1976 fought against unequal education   read more »

At the end of last year, mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay Athol Trollip made a commitment that the city would eradicate bucket toilets in informal settlements by the end of 20171. It’s not surprising that the pledge was made: the municipality has the highest number of bucket toilets in the country, according to data released   read more »

  Press statement                         Embargo: Tuesday 6 June 2017, 11:30   GDP in the first quarter of 2017 contracted by 0,7%   Gross domestic product (measured by production)   South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate was -0,7% in the first quarter of 2017.1 The largest negative contributor to growth in GDP in the first   read more »

Recent service delivery protests have shifted the spotlight onto local government’s ability to provide vital services to the communities they manage. Are municipalities properly staffed to handle the complexities of service delivery? Stats SA provides a profile of the municipal workforce, shedding light on staff shortages in key departments. Explore municipal vacancies, and other stories,   read more »

The South African economy moved into recession with the reported decrease of 0,7% in GDP during the first quarter of 2017, following a 0,3% contraction in the fourth quarter of 2016. Using the widely accepted measure of ‘recession’ as two (or more) consecutive quarters of negative growth (real GDP quarter-on-quarter), this means that South Africa   read more »

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