LivingInGP - Living in Gauteng

This report is a summary of the provincial findings of the 1995 October Household Survey in Gauteng. It paints a demographic, social and economic picture of life in that province and draws comparisons between Gauteng and South Africa as a whole.read more »

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Ekurhuleni

Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality occupies 1 975km2of the land area in the province of Gauteng (Wikipedia).  The name Ekurhuleni means ‘place of peace’ in Tsonga (Wikipedia), and the municipality is one of three metropolitan municipalities within Gauteng.  Ekurhuleni is also home to South Africa’s largest airport, OR Tambo International Airport, which is located in the Kempton Park area.

Ekurhuleni is highly urbanised, with 99,4% of the population living in urban settlements ranging from informal settlements to elite urban residential suburbs.  A number of large urbanised townships, such as Katlehong and Tokoza, also occupy the landscape.

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Maluti a Phofung

Maluti-A-Phofung local municipality is situated in the Free State. Maluti-A-Phofung is a local municipality and was established on 5 December 2001, and comprises of four former TLC local authorities, which are Qwaqwa Rural, Phuthaditjhaba, Harrismith and Kestell. The municipality is comprised of 35 wards and covers approximately 4 421 km2 in extent. Phuthaditjhaba is the urban centre of Qwaqwa and serves as the administrative head office of Maluti-A-Phofung municipality. Surrounding Phuthaditjhaba are the rural villages of Qwaqwa, established on tribal land administered by the Department of Land Affairs. Harrismith is a service center for the surrounding rural areas and a trading belt serving the national road, N3, which links the Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces. Harrismith is surrounded by Tshiame located 12 km to the west and Intabazwe, which is located 1,5 km to the north. The town is an economic hub for people living in Tshiame, Intabazwe and Qwaqwa. Kestell is a service center for the surrounding agricultural oriented rural area, with Tlholong as the township. Kestell is situated along the N5 road that links Harrismith with Bethlehem. The rural areas of Maluti-A-Phofung comprise commercial farms and major nature conservation centres such as Qwaqwa National Park, Platberg, Sterkfontein Dam and the Maluti Mountain Range. The area is not only a tourist attraction destination, but also makes a big contribution in generating gross agricultural income for the whole of the province and is also highly regarded for its beef production.read more »

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Mangaung

Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality is a Category A municipality. It is situated in the Free State province, in the central interior of South Africa.  The Free State is bordered by Gauteng, the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and North West provinces, as well as the neighbouring country of Lesotho.

Mangaung, meaning “the place of the cheetah”, accentuates the vibrant, dynamic and energetic character of the tourism industry in the “City on the move (at the heart of it all)”.  The economy is strongly driven by the government sector, which has seen the fastest growth in the last five years as a result of increased government programmes in livelihoods improvement interventions.  The finance sector is the second-fastest growing sector due to very active estate and construction activities. Small businesses have a major role to play in the Mangaung economy, in terms of employment creation, income generation and output growth.

Cities/Towns: Bloemfontein, Botshabelo, Mangaung, Thaba Nchu Main Economic Sectors: Government services, finance

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Emfuleni

The Emfuleni Local Municipality is one of the three local municipalities comprising the Sedibeng district in Gauteng, South Africa. It is the western-most local municipality in the district, and covers an area of 987,45 km². It consists of two main town centres, Vereeniging and Vanderbijlpark (www.emfuleni.gov.za).

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Midvaal

Midvaal Local Municipality is an administrative area in the Sedibeng district of Gauteng. The name was given due to its geographical location. Midvaal lies between Johannesburg and the East Rand and the Vaal River and Vereeniging.

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Economic Growth

The diverse structure of the South African economy is a critical aspect of its historical and current growth performance.  The manufacturing sector continues to occupy a significant share of the South Africa economy, despite its relative importance declining from 19 percent in 1993 to about 17 percent in 2012 in real terms.

In line with structural changes in many economies, it not surprising to observe that the finance, real estate and business services sector has increase its relative importance of 17 per cent in 1993 to approximately 24 per cent in 2012. These two sectors and a few more are an important part of the South African growth story since the dawn of democracy.

Despite that, less than a decade into the 21st century, many countries, including South Africa, experienced the global economic crisis.This has affected economic growth in South Africa over the last four years, prompting a deceleration in rate of economic growth.

South Africa experienced an average growth rate of approximately 5 per cent in real terms between 2004 and 2007. However, the period 2008 to 2012 only recorded average growth just above 2 per cent; largely a result of the global economic recession.

Of the nine provinces in South Africa, three power houses stand out. Gauteng, Kwazulu-Natal and Western Cape collectively contribute a significant portion to the country’s value added, reported at over 60 percent.

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Crime statistics

  Crime prevention and ultimate elimination is one of the priority goals of the National Development Plan (NDP). Crime affects all people irrespective of their background, and it is a topic that attracts a lot of media attention. Analysis will show that some groupings are affected by certain types of crime more than others. Crime statistics are essential in order to understand the temporal and spatial dynamics of crime. Such understanding is vital for planning targeted interventions and assessing progress made towards achieving a crime free nation where "people living in South Africa feel safe at home, at school and at work, and they enjoy a community life free of fear. Women walk freely in the streets and children play safely outside". There are two major sources of crime statistics in South Africa, namely the South African Police Service (SAPS) and Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). The other smaller sources such as the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and the Medical Research Council (MRC) are by no means insignificant, as they provide statistics for types of crime not adequately covered by the major players, such as domestic violence. While the methodologies used by the SAPS and Stats SA are very different, the two institutions produce crime statistics that complement each other. The SAPS produces administrative data of crime reported to police stations by victims, the public and crime reported as a result of police activity. Stats SA produces crime statistics estimated from household surveys. Crimes reported to the SAPS do not always have the same definitions as crime statistics produced from VOCS. In addition, not all crimes reported by the SAPS are reported by VOCS and vice versa. Working in close collaboration with Stats SA, the South African Police Service has undertaken to align its Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (CCSP) to the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS). Highlights of the 2017/18 Victims of Crime report Aggregate crime levels increased in 2017/18 compared to 2016/17. It is estimated that over 1,5 million incidences of household crime occurred in South Africa in 2017/18, which constitutes an increase of 5% compared to the previous year. Incidences of crime on individuals are estimated to be over 1,6 million, which is an increase of 5% from the previous year. Aggregate household crime levels increased in Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, North West, Gauteng and Mpumalanga. Individual crime levels increased in Free State, North West and Gauteng. North West experienced a drastic increase of 80% in the individual crime level. Perceptions of South Africans on crime in 2017/18 were more skeptical compared to the previous year. About 42% thought property crime increased during the past three years. This is an increase of 6,9% from the previous year. 46% thought violent crime increased during the past three years, an increase of 4,5% over the previous year. Western Cape was the most skeptical about crime trends, as 84% of Western Cape residents thought that crime in South African increased or stayed the same. Mpumalanga was the least skeptical among the nine provinces, where 65% thought that crime increased or stayed the same during the past three years. Crimes that are feared most are those that are most common. An estimated 79% of South Africans felt safe walking alone in their neighbourhoods during the day, which is a decrease of 6,7% from last year. About 32% of South Africans felt safe walking alone in their neighbourhoods at night, constituting an increase of 8% from last year. The highlights for household and individual experiences of crime from the 2016/17 VOCS report are as follows:  read more »

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Agricultural Statistics

The history of agricultural statistics in South Africa goes back as far back as the beginning of the 20th century. With the exception of the World Wars and great depression years, an agricultural census was conducted on annual basis in the first half of the 20th century. As agriculture’s contribution to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) decreased over the years, so did the frequency of conducting agricultural censuses. Post 1994, agricultural censuses have been conducted on a five yearly basis, with annual surveys being conducted in between the census years. Until now, agricultural censuses and surveys have largely concentrated on commercial agriculture leaving out small-scale and subsistence agriculture. In 2009, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) conducted an audit of agricultural statistics in the country. One of the findings was that the country lacked information on smallholder and subsistence agriculture. The current list of farmers being used to conduct surveys was mainly confined to commercial agriculture. A decision was taken that three questions related to agriculture would be included in the Population Census 2011 (Census 2011) questionnaire. The main objective was to identify all households involved in agriculture in the country, so that a complete frame of all individuals and entities involved in agriculture (both subsistence and commercial) could be generated. This will allow for a comprehensive agricultural census to be conducted.read more »

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Causes of Death 2013

The registration of deaths in South Africa is governed by the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1992 (Act No. 51 of 1992), as amended. The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) uses death notification form DHA-1663 to register all deaths and stillbirths. Stats SA collects completed death notification forms from the DHA head office for data processing, analysis, report writing and dissemination. Causes of death statistics are compiled in accordance with the World Health Organization (WHO) regulations that require that member nations classify and code causes of death using the tenth revision of the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10). Statistics from civil registration are the only national source of information on mortality and causes of death in South Africa. Such information is invaluable for the assessment and monitoring of the health status of the population and for planning of adequate health interventions. Accordingly, these statistics are also essential in tracking progress and monitoring key development objectives outlined in the National Development Plan (NDP) adopted by the South African government in 2012. The plan asserts that health care can be improved through decreasing mortality by combating infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS and the emerging tide of non-communicable diseases. The government objective, ‘Health care for all by 2030’ outlined in the NDP is aimed at reducing child and infant mortality; maternal mortality; and combating HIV/AIDS and other diseases by 2030.read more »

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