Abstract
A social indicators community project was launched in 1999 to monitor changing living standards in Rhini, a low-income suburb of Grahamstown, Makana Municipality, South Africa. Since 1994, under democratic rule, considerable progress has been made in service delivery to the formerly disadvantaged in South African society in terms of access to housing, infrastructure, and a social safety net to mitigate the high rate of unemployment. Results from two representative cross-sectional household surveys (n862/n1,020) conducted in 1999 and 2007 in Rhini demonstrate major changes in material living standards. However, these increases are not reflected in assessments of the household situation. Results are discussed against the background of rising expectations and social policy under democracy. It is concluded that income and employment poverty might dilute gains from higher material living standards. Further research using panel-study data is needed to demonstrate the lasting effects of service delivery on perceived quality of life in South Africa.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Academics based in developing countries have an obligation to contribute not only to basic research to expand the frontiers of knowledge, they are also morally obliged to conduct research in the public interest. In South Africa, funding for research is usually conditional on its proposed benefits to society.
- 2.
In 2009, the cost of one government housing subsidy was R50,000 (approximately US$6,700).
- 3.
In 2010, the Makana Municipality assured the residents of Rhini that the government had approved funding for rectifying deficient state-subsidised houses countrywide (van Wynegaard, 2010).
- 4.
http://www.health-e.org.za/news/article.php?uid=20032095. Accessed 10 March 2010.
- 5.
According to the Centre for Development and Enterprise, a South African think tank, www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=80741. Accessed 20 March 2009.
- 6.
The first study reported here conducted in 1999 referred to Grahamstown East/Rhini (spelt as ‘Rini’ as on the census and other maps). This chapter uses Rhini, the older popular name. The designation of Grahamstown East was meant to project the idea of a unified city in contrast to the apartheid city that typically separated residential areas by race.
- 7.
To date, Grahamstown population figures are only estimates. The South African census gives population figures for Rhini that are generally considered much too low. The Makana Municipality engineers use a figure one and a half times larger than the census figures while our household surveys have yielded estimates between the two (Møller, Manona, van Hees, Pillay, & Tobi, 2001).
- 8.
The largest town in Makana Municipality following the 2000 local government elections.
- 9.
The proposed new neighbourhood is to be located between two formerly racially defined residential areas for African and coloured people under apartheid.
- 10.
The issue of water quality has come to the fore since the 2007 survey was conducted. In 2010, residents of Grahamstown were concerned that tap water was toxic and not safe to drink due to a dysfunctional chlorinator at one of the treatment plants. A spokesperson for Rhini complained of frequent water outages and brown sludge coming out of taps (Butana & Potter, 2010). In a public debate the municipality was accused of negligence, of not servicing treatment plants, and failing to regularly take samples of water for testing as required by law.
- 11.
Eligible for inclusion in the survey were adults over the age of 18 years who had lived in Rhini for at least 6 months during the past year. If the person selected was not available, an appointment was made to conduct the interview at a later time. Up to four visits were made to the household to interview the person selected to be the respondent. An interview was obtained in 97.9 % or 1,020 of the 1,042 households targeted to be in the sample.
- 12.
An age extension to 18 years, to be introduced over several years, was announced in 2008.
- 13.
Access to piped water within 200 m conforms to RDP norms for a minimum standard of living.
- 14.
The survey items read ‘Approximately what is this household’s average monthly income?’ and ‘What monthly income does this household need to get by?’ 13 income categories were supplied.
- 15.
The old-age pension and the disability grant were already well established in the last century. The child support grant introduced under democracy in 1998 aimed to support poor families to provide adequate nutrition for children. It ‘follows the child’ and is paid to the primary caregiver (Lund, 2008).
- 16.
See the Appendix Table 13.7 for details on ratings of neighbourhood satisfaction.
- 17.
Stray animals reportedly trample vegetable gardens that are not fenced and cause road accidents.
- 18.
The household situation was rated as ‘better’ than last year by 18.8%, the ‘same’ by 24.7% and ‘worse’ by 56.5%.
- 19.
Assessment of satisfaction with life as a whole was ‘very satisfied’ (4.2%), ‘satisfied’ (40.1%), ‘neither satisfied nor dissatisfied’ (19.0%), ‘dissatisfied’ (28.5%) and ‘very dissatisfied’ (8.1%).
- 20.
Chi-square was used to test for differences in the frequency distributions of social indicators between the 1999 and 2007 surveys. Bonferroni adjustment to the level of significance ensured that the overall significance level of multiple comparison tests did not exceed 5%.
- 21.
This is a surprising finding given the many local efforts by government and nongovernmental organisations to promote food gardens to boost household food security and nutrition in a time of rising food prices and the AIDS epidemic. It is possible, although no proof has been found to date, that food gardening is stigmatised in that it serves as a marker of HIV-infection and poverty. HIV-positive people are encouraged to grow and eat vegetables to boost their immune systems.
- 22.
Noteworthy is that the objective measure of crime (a housebreaking in the past year) and the subjective satisfaction with the crime situation in the neighbourhood (not a lot of crime in the area) were crowded out by factors in the regression analysis related to livelihoods and living standards. Similarly, an earlier study of criminal victimisation in the Eastern Cape found that crime did not appear to negatively influence subjective well-being which suggests that many South African households have become resilient and have adapted to relatively high crime levels in their communities.
- 23.
References
Afrobarometer. (2002). Afrobarometer Briefing Paper No. 1 (http://www.afrobarometer.org).
Andrews, F., & Withey, S. (1976). Social indicators of wellbeing: American perceptions of quality of life. New York: Plenum Press.
Böhnke, P. (2002). Reporting on social exclusion: Standard of living and social participation in Hungary, Spain and Germany. Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin. Working Paper Series FS111 01.
Butana, K. (2008). ‘Unnecessary bureaucracy’ delays housing. Residents wait for houses for over 15 years. Grocott’s Mail, Grahamstown. 14 October, p. 5.
Butana, K., & Potter, D. (2010). No consensus on water quality by scientists and muni to work together. Grocott’s Mail, Grahamstown. 5 March, p. 2.
Campbell, A., Converse, P. E., & Rodgers, W. L. (1976). The quality of American life. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Delhey, J., Böhnke, P., Habich, R., & Zapf, W. (2002). Quality of life in a European perspective: The Euromodule as a new instrument for comparative welfare research. Social Indicators Research, 58(1), 163–176.
Devey, R., & Møller, V. (2002). Closing the gap between rich and poor in South Africa: Trends in objective and subjective indicators of quality of life in the October Household Survey. In W. Glatzer (Ed.), Rich and poor: Disparities, perceptions, concomitants (pp. 105–122). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Dickes, P., Fusco, A., & Marlier, E. (2010). Structure of national perceptions of social needs across EU countries. Social Indicators Research, 95(1), 143–167.
Diener, E., & Suh, E. (1997). Measuring quality of life: Economic, social and subjective indicators. Social Indicators Research, 40(1–2), 189–216.
D’Agostini, L. R., & Fantini, A. C. (2008). Quality of life and quality of living conditions in rural areas. Social Indicators Research, 89(3), 487–499.
Easterlin, R. A. (1995). Will raising the incomes of all increase the happiness of all? Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 27(1), 35–47.
Ferris, A. L. (2006). Approaches to reducing poverty. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 1(3–4), 217–226.
Gough, I., & McGregor, J. A. (Eds.). (2007). Wellbeing in developing countries: From theory to research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Holden, M. (2006). Revisiting the local impact of community indicators projects: Sustainable Seattle as prophet in its own land. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 1(3–4), 253–277.
Kgafela, N. (2010). Local government: Corruption, nepotism, and service delivery. Fast Facts 2: 2–3. South African Institute of Race Relations http://www.sairr.org.za
Leibbrandt, M., Woolard, I., Finn, A., & Argent, J. (2010). Trends in South African income distribution and poverty since the fall of apartheid. OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers No. 101, Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development http://www.oecd.org/els/workingpapers
Lund, F. (2008). Changing social policy: The child support grant in South Africa. Cape Town: Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) Press.
Manona, C. W. (1987). Land tenure in an urban area. Development Southern Africa, 4(3), 569–581.
Marans, R. W. (2003). Understanding environmental quality through quality of life studies: The 2001 DAS and its use of subjective and objective indicators. Landscape and Urban Planning, 65(1–2), 75–85.
Memela, S., Mautjane, B., Nzo, T., & van Hoof, P. (Ed.). (2008). The state of local governance in South Africa: What does the Local Government Barometer tell us? Cape Town: Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa).
Mgaqelwa, A. 2010. Transforming townships is Mafcoc’s goal. Grocott’s Mail, 1 March, p. 1. http://www.grocotts.co.za/content/transforming-townships-mafcoc%E2%80%99s-goal-01-03-2010?page=1. Accessed 15 March 2010.
Møller, V. (Ed.), Manona, C. W., van Hees, C., Pillay, E., & Tobi, A. (2001). Living in Grahamstown East/Rini: A social indicators report. Research Report Series No. 6, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Rhodes University, Grahamstown.
Møller, V. (1998). Quality of life in South Africa: Post-apartheid trends. Social Indicators Research, 43(1–2), 27–68.
Møller, V. (2003). Quality of life and positive youth development in Grahamstown East, South Africa. In M. J. Sirgy, D. Rahtz, & A. C. Samli (Eds.), Advances in quality-of-life theory and research (pp. 53–79). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Møller, V. (2007). Satisfied and dissatisfied South Africans: Results from the General Household Survey in international comparison. Social Indicators Research, 81(2), 389–415.
Møller, V. (2008). Living in Rhini: A 2007 update on the 1999 social indicators report. Research Report Series No. 14, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Rhodes University, Grahamstown. Rhodes eResearch Repository: http://eprints.ru.ac.za/1022/1/Living-in-Rhini.pdf
Møller, V., & Dickow, H. (2002). The role of quality of life surveys in managing change in democratic transitions: The South African case. Social Indicators Research, 58(1–3), 267–292.
Møller, V., & Jackson, A. (1997). Perceptions of service delivery and happiness. Development Southern Africa, 14(2), 169–184.
Møller, V., & Schlemmer, L. (1983). Quality of life in South Africa: Towards an instrument for the assessment of quality of life and basic needs. Social Indicators Research, 12, 225–279.
Møller, V., & Schlemmer, L. (1989). South African quality of life: A research note. Social Indicators Research, 21(3), 279–291.
Noble, M. W. J., Wright, G. C., Magasela, W. K., & Ratcliffe, A. (2007). Developing a democratic definition of poverty in South Africa. Journal of Poverty, 11(4), 117–141.
Rabkin, F. (2009). Jo’burg to challenge Phiri water ruling. Business Day, Johannesburg, 23 February. p. 3.
Roodt, M., & Eddy, G. (2010). Skills shortage: The public sector faces a skills black hole. Fast Facts 1: 2–7. South African Institute of Race Relations http://www.sairr.org.za
Sirgy, M. J., Gao, T., & Young, R. F. (2008). How does residents’ satisfaction with community services influence quality of life (QOL) outcomes? Applied Research in Quality of Life, 3(2), 81–105.
Snowball, J. (2008). Measuring the value of culture: Methods and examples in cultural economics. Dordrecht: Springer.
South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR). (2007). South Africa Survey 2006/2007. Johannesburg.
South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR). (2009a). South Africa Survey 2008/2009. Johannesburg.
South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR). (2009b). Local government and the policy challenge: Major Urban Poverty Challenges Identification (MUPCI). Supplement to the South African Survey 2008/2009. Johannesburg. http://www.eumunicipaloutreach.org.za/siteworkspace/2008-2009-survey-supplement-02.12.2009.pdf. Accessed 13 March 2010.
Van Wynegaard, A. (2010). What to do to get an RDP house. Grocott’s Mail, Grahamstown. 5 March, p. 5. http://www.grocotts.co.za/content/what-do-get-rdp-house-12-03-2010. Accessed 15 March 2010.
Van der Berg, S. (1998). Ageing, public finance and social security in South Africa. Southern African Journal of Gerontology, 7(1), 3–9.
Veenhoven, R. (2000). The four qualities of life. Ordering concepts and measures of the good life. Journal of Happiness Studies, 1(1), 1–39.
Veenhoven, R. (2002). Why social policy needs subjective indicators. Social Indicators Research, 58(1–3), 33–45.
Vogel, J. (1994). Social indicators and social reporting. Statistical Journal of the United Nations, 11, 241–260.
Vogel, J. (1997). The future direction of social indicators research. Social Indicators Research, 42(2), 103–116.
Wright, G. (2008). Findings from the Indicators of Poverty and Social Exclusion Project: A profile of poverty using the socially perceived necessities approach. Department of Social Development, Republic of South Africa. Key Report No. 7.
Acknowledgements
An earlier version of this chapter was presented at the First International Sociological Association Forum, ‘Sociological Research and Public Debate’, Barcelona, Spain, 5–8 September 2008, Working Group WG06 Social Indicators. Conference participation was made possible by a Rhodes University travel grant. The chapter is based on data from sample surveys supported by two grants from the South Africa-Netherlands Programme on Alternatives in Development (SANPAD) awarded in 1999 and 2006. Fieldwork for the 2007 survey was commissioned to Development Research Africa. While this sponsorship is gratefully acknowledged, views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to others.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Møller, V., Radloff, S. (2011). Monitoring Indicators of Living Conditions in a South African Urban Community. In: Sirgy, M., Phillips, R., Rahtz, D. (eds) Community Quality-of-Life Indicators: Best Cases V. Community Quality-of-Life Indicators, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0535-7_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0535-7_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-0534-0
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-0535-7
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)