Slim standard of life upgrade for Gautengers

These are among the key findings in the fifth edition of the Gauteng City Region Observatory (GCRO)’s Quality of Life Survey 2017/2018 released today.

Another key trend is that, along with the usual suspects of crime and unemployment being chief concerns for the province’s citizens, the new emerging threat, is the impact of drugs and alcohol abuse, especially among the survey’s coloured respondents, has taken over as a top three concern.

Now in its fifth edition, the latest biennial survey has been conducted against the backdrop of a change in president from Jacob Zuma to Cyril Ramaphosa, and on a provincial level the ghosts of the tragedy of the death of mental health patients at Life Esidimeni and the ongoing e-toll saga on the province’s roads.

GCRO director of research, Graeme Götz, presented the findings at the University of Johannesburg on Tuesday, saying that the “province has done well with its slow and steady improvement in the quality of life index over time” against the persistent pressure of lower GDP per capita in recent years at 26.7%. This as well as what he says is the population explosion in the province that sees 1.5-million people added to the head count every five years.

When the survey started in 2009 the index put quality of life at 6.23 (rated out of 10) and this year is at 6.30. However, he also says that breaking down the complexity of the data is crucial to see the more nuanced implications of the research.

Of the municipalities surveyed, it’s Ekurhuleni that’s shown a survey by survey increase in satisfaction of services. Researchers measured this against eight basic services of government provided housing; water; sanitation; waste removal; energy; roads; public health care; and government safety and security services, as well as the cost of municipal services and billing for services.

Johannesburg citizens marked a slight drop in satisfaction in this survey while Tshwane and Emfuleni citizens showed increasing dissatisfaction in service delivery in their municipalities. People surveyed in Midvaal and Lesedi proved to most satisfied with service delivery in their areas, with strong spikes in their rating for services.

Götz says the results show that overall province-wide satisfaction has decreased over the last three surveys, but says there are clear municipal variations in this trend.

“Satisfaction with some services is up, but overall decline is mainly driven by lower satisfaction with government provided dwellings, services cost and billing,” he says of reading the research findings for Tshwane and Johannesburg.