IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH DATA ECOSYSTEMS

In an environment of low real economic growth, South African public-sector institutions continued to plough an increasing amount of capital expenditure into the economy in the financial year 2013/14. This is evident from the latest capital expenditure survey, which indicates that total capital expenditure by the public sector rose from R224,8 billion in 2012/13 to   read more »

Rural municipalities continue to rely heavily on national government to finance their budgets, according to data from the latest release of Stats SA’s Financial census of municipalities report. For every R1 of revenue received by municipalities in the year 2014, 33c was in the form of grants and subsidies from national and provincial government. The   read more »

Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) today released mid-year population estimates which put South Africa’s population at just over 54,9 million as at July 2015. The population increased by 1,65% between 2014 and 2015, with Gauteng remaining the most populous province, with almost 13,2 million inhabitants, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with a population of almost 10,9 million.   read more »

Digging a little deeper into the latest consumer price data shows how you can make informed choices about your sweet tooth. If you love to have cake on a regular basis, it might be interesting to know that you are now paying almost 30% more for a cake than you did in June 2010. The   read more »

The March 2015 Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES) survey showed that total formal non-agricultural employment decreased by 44 000 jobs from 8 986 000 in the fourth quarter of 2014 to 8 942 000 in the first quarter of 2015. This is a quarterly decrease of 0.5 %. The quarterly decrease was mainly due to decreases   read more »

Employee-related costs of municipalities rose from R61,2 billion in 2012/13 to R68,4 billion in 2013/14, an rise of 11,6%. This is one of the findings from the latest Financial census of municipalities report published by Stats SA. Metropolitan municipalities contributed 57,3% (R39 billion) of total municipal employee related costs in 2013/14. Local municipalities contributed 34,6%   read more »

Approximately 9% (or R101 billion) of total national government expenditure for the 2013/14 financial year was on interest on state debt. This is one of the findings from Stats SA’s latest Financial statistics of national government report. Using financial data from 41 government departments, the report measures national government spending, broken down by function (e.g.   read more »

The great book says it all in Matthew 26-11 that “The poor you will always have with you but you will not always have me”. And in Matthew 19-24 the great book says ‘Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who   read more »

In April 2015 the acting CEO of Eskom suggested that in order to improve Eskom’s financial situation, that the utility bypass municipalities and supply all customers directly with electricity. How would municipalities be affected if this proposal is adopted? Acting as middle-men, municipalities buy electricity from Eskom in bulk and then re-sell the power to   read more »

The percentage of households in South Africa without access to an improved source of sanitation has decreased consistently over the past decade. The latest General Household Survey (GHS) found that the percentage of households with access to improved sanitation, that is flush toilets or pit toilets with ventilation pipes, has increased consistently from 62,3% in   read more »