The largest social attitudes survey ever conducted in Gauteng was launched on Tuesday at the University of Johannesburg, revealing the level of satisfaction and the concerns of 30 000 Gauteng residents from all municipalities.

The Quality of Life Survey for 2015 was conducted between July 2015 and May 2016 and measured socioeconomic circumstances, attitudes to service delivery, the quality of life, institutions and psycho-social attitudes.

The survey, the fourth in the series, which runs every two years, is conducted by the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GPRO), a partnership between the University of Johannesburg, University of the Witwatersrand, the Gauteng provincial government and organised local government in Gauteng.

“Over 200 questions were asked of residents from all parts of the province and from every walk of life. Many questions asked related to the satisfaction with services and satisfaction with government,” said GPRO director Dr Rob Moore.

The survey revealed that satisfaction with local government improved, while by contrast, national government took a significant drop in levels of satisfaction since 2013 and over the course of the survey, especially as a result of ‘Nenegate’.

Influx Urbanisation

Gauteng residents wanted government to control the increasing urbanisation in the city.

Gauteng Premier David Makhura said government was under serious pressure and added that decisive measures had to be put in place to deal with the issue.

“Urbanisation is the most decisive force in the world. Johannesburg would not be the [city] it is if it only had people who were born here living in it. We embrace the pressure,” he said.

Basic Services Satisfaction

The survey further focused on the current levels of satisfaction with key services such as water, electricity, waste, health and education.  

The survey revealed that in general there had been high and stable levels of satisfaction with services since the 2013 survey.

However, there was continued and relatively high satisfaction with basic services such as health and education.

Eighty-three per cent of Gauteng respondents were satisfied with water services, 65% with public health services and 71% with local education services.     

There was significantly lower satisfaction relating to government initiatives aimed at growing the economy, with only 22% of residents satisfied.

Economic Conditions

The survey showed that the proportion of current business owners among Gauteng respondents fell from 11% in 2011 and 2013, to 8% in 2015.

Makhura said municipalities needed to play a huge role not only in basic service delivery but also in transforming the economy.

“We expect them to drive transformation in our economy. We need to tackle the economy much more robustly “said Makhura.

Key Political Opinions

The quality of life index for Gauteng showed continued overall improvements since 2011; however, the index varied significantly across race groups with Africans being the only group that fell below the provincial average. The average out of ten is now at 6.20 up from 6.10 in 2013.

Randfontein mayor Mzi Khumalo said he appreciated the outcome of the survey.

“It is not government speaking but it is the people who have spoken. Interaction with the communities is important,” stated Khumalo.

Khumalo said collaborative service delivery system Ntirhisano played a vital role in enhancing service delivery in Randfontein. 

Ntirhisano aimed to improve government’s service delivery capacity and build an activist public service that was responsive to the needs of the people. It further sought to empower communities to drive their own development.

Johannesburg mayor and chairperson of South African Local Government Association, Parks Tau, welcomed the report and added that government would use it to enhance service delivery in the Gauteng municipalities.

“We were experiencing a very high level of urbanisation. We are dealing with continuously moving targets which often results in backlogs in terms of service delivery. We should discourage influx control measures because many people are attracted to the city and they want to make their lives better and essentially contribute to the city,” said Tau.