SAIRR Today: Provincial development key to national poverty alleviation -18th July 2008
The reported decision by the ANC to axe provincial premiers in the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape has again focused the spotlight on provincial performance. The Institute has for several years run a programme to monitor and support the work of the nine provincial legislatures in South Africa. This project has found that, while great developmental disparities exist between provinces, these often have more do with historical and geographical factors than with the political leadership within provinces. Correcting the imbalances may require granting greater autonomy to provincial government.
In the interests of improving service delivery and eradicating
poverty the Institute runs an outreach project called the Provincial
Information Service. Through this project the Institute is able to
provide all its research data and publications to provincial
legislatures to aid them in their policy and planning work. Provincial
legislators, their research staff, and all political parties
represented at provincial level are also given the benefit of the
Institute’s extensive library and can request from it virtually any
statistical data on South Africa. Generally, all such queries are
answered within 24-hours. In 2007 this project handled over 200
queries. The Institute’s research team also visits every provincial
legislature annually for meetings and presentations with staff and
politicians.
The backbone of the service is an annual report on provincial
development. This report tracks over 100 developmental indicators for
each of the nine provinces and for South Africa as a whole. Over
several years this report has found that vast socio-economic
discrepancies exist across South Africa’s nine provinces. Levels of
incomes, education, housing, access to water and electricity, and crime
vary considerably depending on where in South Africa people live.
The latest report published in May 2008, found the following by
way of example:
- Incomes in Gauteng and the Western Cape were nearly three times greater than those in Limpopo and the North West
- People in Gauteng were nearly four times more likely to have a degree than those in Limpopo
- Limpopo was by far the safest province in South Africa even though it was the poorest and had the lowest number of police officials per person. The murder rate in Limpopo was nearly five times lower than that in the Western Cape
- Some 57 % of the population in the Eastern Cape did not have access to running water.
- Levels of informal housing in Gauteng were three times greater than those in the Eastern Cape.
- The Western Cape, Gauteng, and KwaZulu-Natal contributed more than two-thirds of South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP).
- KwaZulu-Natal’s proportion of HIV-positive people was three times greater than that of the Western Cape. However, KwaZulu-Natal had also more public sector doctors and nurses per person.
- The expanded unemployment rate in Limpopo (at 52%) was more than twice that of the Western Cape
- Government departments made the second highest contribution (at 18.5%) to the Eastern Cape’s gross geographic product (GGP)
The greatest challenge facing the poorer provinces, in particular,
is how they can grow their domestic economies in order to eradicate
poverty and unemployment. One obstacle to this goal is the historical
dominance of Gauteng and the Western Cape. However, it is also clear
that the alleviation of poverty and inequality in South Africa cannot
depend solely on the performance of two out of nine provinces.
Policies aimed at improving service delivery and poverty
alleviation need to be more closely attuned to widely varying
provincial conditions. They should acknowledge and take far more
account of the differing strengths and weaknesses of the nine
provinces, many of which derive from historical or geographical
factors.
The country’s overall development strategy needs to be more
localized and province-specific. This will require the buy-in and
support of national government. It will also require more participation
by all political parties, relevant civil society organizations, and
development institutions. This challenge is significant, but it is also
one that must be met if a stable and prosperous South Africa is to be
attained.
This Institute’s Provincial Information Service is important for
its practical contribution to development in South Africa. At the same
time, it affords the Institute valuable insights into the workings of
provincial administrations, and into the enormous development
challenges faced both by ordinary citizens and by those tasked with
improving their living conditions.
This week the Institute signed a contract with Irish Aid for the
continued operation of this important development and poverty
alleviation project over the next three years. For more information on
this initiative, please contact the Provincial Outreach Officer, Gail
Eddy, on geddy@sairr.org.za
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Gail Eddy
SAIRR Today: Winds of change at the Union Buildings - 10th October 2008
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