Water, Sewage & Effluent January February 2019 | Page 3

Subscribe to WSE online www.waterafrica.co.za the province as a whole has seen big declines in resident satisfaction. This includes declines in satisfaction with costs of services and billing in Johannesburg and Tshwane. By contrast, residents of Ekurhuleni are much more satisfied with costs, billing, and waste than in the last survey.” Previous iterations of the survey have shown that overall satisfaction with government is typically lower than satisfaction with the essential services that government provides. According to Dr Moore, it is a feature of public sentiment that attitudes to local government are coloured by a range of factors beyond basic service delivery. This is a general condition where government is often held accountable for issues or conditions that are beyond its immediate mandate or control. While the overall trend is positive, quality of life differs significantly across racial groups. White respondents indicate a fairly substantial improvement in overall quality of life, while African respondents experienced a substantially smaller improvement in quality of life. Dr Moore noted, “While the overall improvement in measured quality of life is encouraging, this disparity demonstrates the high levels of inequality that continue to plague the Gauteng City-Region.” Commenting on the value of the QoL data in assisting policymakers to tackle socio- economic challenges, Dr Moore observed, “As an independent, trusted, and respected survey, the QoL data is highly valued by government, civil society, and academic researchers. The data is both demographically and spatially representative.” Dr Moore believes that this allows local, provincial, and national government to use the data for policy and decision-making, target setting, and to gauge success in their implementation of initiatives. Both provincial and local government are increasingly making use of this data to respond proactively to different issues that arise in particular places. I hope you enjoy this issue of Water, Sewage & Effluent. Please email me at [email protected] to share your views, comments, or suggestions — I’d love to hear from you!  Water Sewage & Effluent January/February 2019 3 T he results of the Gauteng City-Region Observatory’s 5th Quality of Life Survey (QoL) – 2017/18, show that, despite very challenging economic conditions, overall quality of life in the province continues to improve. The survey interviewed 24 889 respondents across Gauteng. The results were launched at a high-profile event, attended by Gauteng Premier David Makhura, held in November 2018 at the University of Johannesburg. It is one of the biggest social-attitudes surveys in sub- Saharan Africa, and takes a multidimensional approach to defining what constitutes quality of life and provides data on a wide range of topics, including access to, and satisfaction with, basic services; satisfaction with government; transport and mobility; livelihoods; migration; neighbourhood, community and family dynamics; race and gender relations; health and well-being; and political and social values and attitudes. According to GCRO executive director, Dr Rob Moore, despite challenging economic conditions and with GDP per person lower than what it was 10 years ago and unemployment nearing 30%, the survey indicated steady improvement in overall quality of life over time. Dr Moore added that it was clear that satisfaction with government has improved since the last time the survey was run in 2015/16, in particular with provincial government. Despite continued high levels of population and household growth in Gauteng, the QoL survey shows that levels of access to services have remained stable. “Access to piped water to homes and yards has remained above 90% over the decade that the survey has been conducted,” Dr Moore said. “This tells us that government is broadly keeping pace with increases in demand for service connections. However, there are signs that provision of services has deteriorated significantly in some municipalities, while delivery has improved in others. This reflects in different levels of satisfaction with local government. For example, some 86% of respondents across Gauteng are satisfied with their water services, up from 83% in the last survey.” However, Dr Moore pointed out that Ekurhuleni is outperforming the other metros on most service measures. “In important areas like cost of municipal services, billing, and waste, Quality of Life