The statement in government’s 2012 ‘Development Indicators Report’ that the evidence suggests life has changed for the better in South Africa since 1994 and the country is steadily making progress has been given little credence or publicity.

Released last month by Minister in The Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Collins Chabane, the 102-page document uses quantitative measures in an effort to track progress across various spheres of South African life, from the economy and education to healthcare, social cohesion and safety and security. Its overall thrust is that, while the country continues to face serious developmental and economic problems, the general trajectory remains positive.

Many would, no doubt, concur with the analysis that challenges persist. Most, but not all, would probably even agree that things are better than they were at the advent of democracy. But there would be far less consensus on whether the trend remains constructive.

In fact, it is arguably fair to say that there is a quiet sense of despair, particularly regarding pervasive poverty, unemployment and inequality. Many South Africans believe that the country has made little, if any, progress in dealing with this so-called ‘triple scourge’, while the most critical are of the view that these indicators have in fact worsened over the past 19 years.

It was, therefore, somewhat heartening to come across a piece of research published on Econ3x3, an initiative of the Research Project on Employment, Income Distribution and Inclusive Growth, which is associated with the University of Cape Town. Entitled ‘The significant decline in poverty in its many dimensions since 1993’, the paper has been compiled by researcher Arden Finn, Professor Murray Leibbrandt and Associate Professor Ingrid Woolard.

The authors argue that, when measuring poverty, dimensions of wellbeing that cannot be measured in monetary terms should be included, which can then be measured using a ‘Multidimensional Poverty Index’, or MPI. The nonmonetary companies should include data on health, education and access to services such as water, electricity and sanitation.

Applying the MPI to South Africa, the study suggests that both the prevalence and the intensity of poverty have fallen significantly from 1993 to 2010. It also concludes that significant increases in public expenditure to attain universal school enrolment, to reduce child mortality and expand access to services in poor communities have been effective in reducing multidimensional poverty.

The results seem to reinforce the notion that well-planned infrastructure investment, both economic and social, can go a long way towards reducing poverty.

But as heartening as the results are, the obvious next question relates not to access in itself, but to the quality of the services to which South Africans now have access – on this score, I suspect South Africa is performing far less impressively.

For this reason, the correct focus on rolling out hard and soft services to poorer communities now has to be coupled with a concerted drive to improve the service experiences. There is also little doubt that the quality of service will ultimately boil down to people and how well equipped (both through education and values) they are to guarantee delivery.