It has only been five months into 2014, yet a lot has already happened. Just recently, on 7 May 2014, many South Africans went out in their numbers to vote in the fifth general election since the dawn of democracy. The African Union (AU) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) observer missions congratulated South Africa on a free, fair, transparent and credible election.

Other events which grabbed some of our attention this year were the Oscar Pistorius trial, the disappearance of Malaysian flight MH370 and the abduction of more than 200 Nigerian school girls by the military organisation, Boko Haram. Soon, the 2014 FIFA World Cup taking place in Brazil will have some people glued to their screens. With seven months to go till the end of the year, only time will tell what else this year has in store for us.

In this month’s issue of Mbalo Brief, we give you a closer look at the Census 2011 results for the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality. The article explores several interesting factors such as the municipality’s demographics, population size, education, average household income as well as household goods and services.

Included in this issue are our monthly articles such as the Electricity, Mining production and sales, Food and beverages and Consumer price index (CPI). We have also included a crossword puzzle and solutions for the April 2014 puzzle.

Articles published in this issue are based on results of industry surveys conducted for the months ranging from February to March 2014 which were released in April and May 2014.

For more details on any of surveys, visit our website at www.statssa.gov.za .

Download Mbalo – Brief May 2014