Johannesburg - Strides that South Africa has made since the dawn of democracy indicate that citizens don’t have to be pessimistic about the future of the country.
This is what John Bostock of the SA Institute of Race Relations said on Tuesday when the SAIRR launched a report titled “Life in South Africa: Reason for Hope”.
The report highlights the progress the country has achieved since the democratic dispensation and also indicates that life for South Africans - especially black people - has improved substantially since 1994.
Bostock, who is a research analyst at the SAIRR, said although the country has a long way to go to solve its economic problems, these findings showed there was hope.
“People don’t have to be pessimistic about the future of South Africa. The biggest improvement over the years is actually murder rates, which fell by half since 1994.
“Murder has substantially decreased despite us being bombarded with headlines about murder daily.
“The standard of living for black people has improved and poverty among black people has substantially decreased too,” he said.
“An important factor that contributed to this is the social grant, as it had a major impact in reducing poverty. The government has also made a lot of strides in providing basic services for people.”
Among other things that the report looked at was the murder rate, which went from 68 per 100 000 in 1995/96 to 34 per 100 000 in 2015/16.
Inflation was also recorded to having been recorded at 9 percent in 1994 and steadily dropped over the years. It was at its lowest in 2004 when it was at 1.4 percent, rose to 11.8 percent in 2008 and was sitting at 4.6 percent in 2016.
In 1994 there were 5.7 million formal dwellings in South African and that number rose to 13.4 million in 2016. However, informal dwellings stood at 1.4 million in 1994, but rose to more than 2 million in 2016.
About 15 million people have access to clean water today compared to only 7 million in 1994 and 11.5 million also have access to flushing or chemical toilets. More than 15 million houses have electricity today compared to only 5 million in 1994.
The middle class has also grown substantially. More black people are now passing matric than before and many are also completing their tertiary education.
The number of black people enrolled at tertiary institutions has risen from 46.6 percent in 1995 to 70.1 percent in 2014. The report said only 4.9 million black people had jobs in 1994 but that number had more than doubled to 11.6 million.
The SAIRR used statistics from Statistics SA, the Reserve Bank, consultancy company Eighty20 and the Health System Trust.
The Star