Basic services: Findings from the GCRO's Quality of Life survey 7 (2023/24)

This Data Brief presents results from the GCRO's Quality of Life 7 survey (2023/24) on variables that relate to basic services in Gauteng.

HEADLINE FINDINGS

• Overall, access to basic services in Gauteng has remained stable and very high, but there are significant changes in the proportion of respondents who use electricity for lighting and respondents who received weekly refuse removal services (Figure 1).
• The proportion of respondents who are connected to piped water remains very high(92% in 2023/24), but the percentage of respondents who believe that their water is ‘always clean’ has declined from 75% in 2020/21 to 60% in 2023/24 (Figure 2 and Figure 4).
• Ninety-five percent of respondents are connected to some form of electricity supply, and this has increased from 93% in 2020/21 and 2017/18 (Table 2).
• However, a connection to electricity supply does not equate to actual use of electricity for lighting and cooking due to factors such as loadshedding and cost. The use of‘ grid electricity ’for lighting has declined substantially, which is related to a larger proportion of respondents, especially poor respondents, who use candles for lighting (Figures 6 to9).
• Only 42% of respondents are satisfied with the energy sources they have access to(Figure 10), a decrease from 68% in 2020/21.
• Challenges with electricity supply and reliability mean that 15% of respondents are now generating some or all of their own electricity, an increase from 4% in 2017/18 (Table2), and 40% of QoL7 (2023/24) respondents live in households that are considering investing, or further investing, in alternative sources of energy.
• Access to ‘adequate sanitation’ remains very high (93% in 2023/24), but satisfaction with sanitation has declined from 73% in 2020/21 to 61% in 2023/24 and has declined in all the municipalities in Gauteng (Figure 12).
• Access to weekly refuse removal continued to decline (from 80% in 2011 to 64% in2023/24) but varies substantially between local municipalities and within metropolitan municipalities. Only Midvaal has been able to continually improve access to weekly refuse removal (Figure 13 and table 4).
• Satisfaction with roads, streetlights, the cost of municipal services, the municipal billing systems as well as the safety and security services provided by government all remains very low and has been declining over time (Figure 15).