Some parts of South Africa have experienced severe drought due to shortage of rainfall. According to the South African Weather Services (SAWS), the lowest annual total rainfall over the full 112-year period has been the January to December 2015 period. This period recorded an annual total of only 403 millimeters of rainfall. Government declared Mpumalanga, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, North West and the Free State as the drought disaster areas. Some parts of the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Western Cape were also affected by the drought’s effects. Agricultural production has been affected by the drought and crop farmers were unable to plant their crops due to inadequate rainfall. The government has urged farmers to cut the sizes of their herds as the drought has burnt the grazing land. The SAWS warned that El Nino weather (an abnormal weather pattern that is caused by the warming of the Pacific Ocean near the equator) pattern which caused the historic drought is expected to continue for months, hardening the situation for farmers.

In our educational article for this month’s issue of Mbalo Brief, we give you a closer look at the household use of public transport and the affordability thereof. This article is derived from the findings of a report titled Measuring household expenditure on public transport: In-depth analysis of the National Household Travel Survey (NHTS), 2013 (Report No. 03-20-11) and the General Household Survey (GHS) 2013, 2010 and 2011 as well as the Income and Expenditure Survey (IES) and Census 2011. The article looks at the main mode of travel and affordability of public transport among other areas.

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 November 2015 puzzle.

Articles published in this issue are based on results of industry surveys conducted for the months ranging from November to December 2015 which were released in January and February 2016.

Download Mbalo Brief – February 2016

For more details on any of the surveys, visit our website at:

www.statssa.gov.za

Enjoy your read!