The right to vote is one of the most basic and fundamental rights in a democracy. It is also a basic privilege in which citizens exercise their right to choose those who must govern and represent them. On the 3rd of August 2016, the country participated in the 2nd local government elections, whereby South Africans were again afforded the opportunity to exercise their fundamental right to choose who will be responsible for governing the municipalities and ensuring that services that impact the daily lives of local residents including, water, housing, electricity and sanitations, amongst others, are delivered. Local government elections are held every five years in South Africa and only persons that are 18 years and above, with a valid identity document, are allowed to vote.

Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) played an important role during the preparations of these elections by developing geographical signifiers that assisted the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to verify voters’ residential addresses. This assisted the IEC in providing a voters’ roll to political parties which had addresses of those that were registered to vote.

August is also a month whereby South Africans commemorate and pay tribute to the more than 20 000 women who marched to the Union Buildings on 9 August 1956 in protest against the extension of Pass Laws to women. This year, on 9 August, the statues of the four women who led the march 60 years ago, Sophie Williams de Bruyn, Lillian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph and Rahima Moosa were unveiled at the new Women’s Living Heritage Monument at the State Theatre in Pretoria.

In this month’s issue of Mbalo Brief, our educational article is based on the Community Survey 2016 results with a focus on household services. Also have a look at our monthly crossword puzzle and solutions for the July 2016 puzzle.
Articles published in this issue are based on results of industry surveys conducted for the months ranging from March to May 2016 which were published by Stats SA in May and June 2016.

Download: Mbalo Brief – August 2016

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

Enjoy the read.