Page 12 - Parliament Budget Office Annual Report 2022-2023

Although educational attainment levels have increased, they remain low and unequal. On the positive side, the percentage of individuals aged 20 years and older who have attained at least Grade 12 in their schooling has increased from 30.5 per cent in 2002 to 50.5 per cent in 2021. The percentage of individuals without any schooling then decreased from 11.4 per cent to 3.2 per over the same period. Moreover, by 2021 the percentage of individuals with some post-school education increased to 14.6 per cent from its level of 9.2 per cent in 2002.
Local sphere of government
Local government (LG) plays a critical role as a first line of interaction between citizens and government. The current business model for LGs is actually untenable for most LGs because it depends upon an inadequate of funding, entailing that inadequate levels of free basic services are supplied at a poor level. Frustration with service delivery is often cited as a crucial reason for the high number of service-delivery protests in South Africa. According to Municipal IQ5, service delivery protests have returned to pre-Covid-19 levels, prompting 193 recorded protests to take place nationwide in 2022. Municipal IQ now forecasts regular service-delivery protests to continue
However, Stats SA concludes that “[e]ven though most students
are black African, the education participation rate of this
population group remained proportionally low in comparison
with the Indian/Asian and white population groups”. The in 2023 owing to raised levels of frustration caused by load-
problem is that school attainment levels have a direct impact on employment. Of the 7.8 million unemployed in Q4 2022, 40.1 per cent of these individuals had education levels below matric. Only 34.4 per cent then held a matric, while 10.6 per cent were graduates and 21 per cent had other tertiary qualifications.
Provincial sphere of government: Health
The public healthcare system remains overstretched and underfunded. According to the South African Nursing Council, the current nurse-to-patient ratio is 1:218 patients in comparison to the ideal ratio of 1:16. In March 2022, Health Minister Joe Phaahla revealed that there were 10,831 vacancies in state hospitals, citing budget cuts as a significant challenge. The Minister also highlighted that in 2019 the doctor-to-patient ratio was 0.79 doctors per 1000 patients.
According to StatsSA data, in 2020 South Africa’s average Life Expectancy (LE) at birth was 65.5 years, to be compared with the MTSF target of at least 70 years by 2030. South Africa’s Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) was 24.1 in 2021 compared to 22.1 per 1,000 in 2019, while the infant mortality rate increased from 23.6 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2020. The under-5 mortality rate (U5MR) was then estimated to be 30.8 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2021, while the country’s U5MR was 28.5 per 1,000 in 2019. This is an improvement from 34.1 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2020. The MTSF target is now to reduce the IMR to less than 20 deaths per 1,000 live births by 2024 and decrease the under-5 mortality rate to less than 25 deaths per 1,000 live births by 2024.
Primary Health Care (PHC) has also deteriorated. The preliminary outcome for the number of public health facilities that qualified as ‘ideal clinics’ of 1,928 in 2021/22 was lower than the 2,035 clinics that achieved an ideal clinic status in 2019/20. Primary health care is thought to be the foundation of a health care system, while the failure to provide quality and accessible primary health has long-term ramifications, including significant fiscal consequences.
shedding.
The 2022 report of the Non-Financial Census of Municipalities (NFCS) then shows that fewer consumer units received free basic services in 2019 than 2018. In 2019, a million fewer people received free basic water, while 645,866 fewer received free sewerage and sanitation, and 132 303 fewer citizens received free electricity. In the light of these figures, we are concerned that there has been a decline in the percentages of households receiving free basic services.
The upshot is that the millions of households eligible for free services will not receive them due to the registration system of indigent households being dysfunctional, and entailing that millions of households will be forced to choose between feeding their children and paying for municipal services. According to research by the Public Affairs Research Institute, LGs have been unable to fulfil conflicting objectives of financial viability through self-financing and service delivery. Their efficacy and financial viability have also suffered due to these conflicting goals.
In our analysis then, we have shown a significant difference between the number of households funded for free basic services and the number of households that actually receive these services. In doing so, we have also shown the total value difference in funding.
Access to basic services should also be considered in terms of availability and affordability. It is estimated that as many as 80 per cent of South Africans cannot afford services like electricity and water. According to the South African Reserve Bank, municipal service costs experienced an enormous increase from 2010 to 2020:
u Rates and taxes increased by 118 per cent u Electricity tariffs increased by 177 per cent u Water tariffs increased by 213 per cent
The free utilities available to households are insufficient to meet basic needs. An average household needs around 200
Parliamentary Budget Office | Parliament of the Republic of South Africa
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