Rapule Tabane
A survey on Soweto has found - contrary to speculation that four million or five million residents live in Soweto - that there are in fact only about one million residents.
The survey was published by the University of the Witwatersrand's department of sociology on behalf of the Greater Johannesburg Metro Council to collect data to assist in proper planning for the development of Soweto.
Northern Council mayor Danny Kekana said the study was commissioned by the council in 1995.
"Soweto had never been properly analysed before. We realised, as the new council, that until proper research was done, we would do things haphazardly. We approached a credible institution and the findings are very important to us," he said.
The study found that the biggest problem facing the Government is job creation, as only 40,5 percent of the area's residents aged 16 and over had full-time employment.
Only one in 20 Soweto households has an income greater than R5 000 a month. But there is a clear, well-educated, fairly well-paid middle class and about 8,5 percent of adults have a post-matric qualification.
In line with national statistics, females outnumber males and women's life expectancy is higher, the study found.
There are twice as many women over 60 than there are men. While women are more likely to be unemployed than men, the study found that about a quarter of all households were headed by single women.
The researchers noted: "The fact that in almost a third of all households the breadwinner was female indicates that in many households women are not only primarily responsible for child rearing and domestic chores, but are also responsible for ensuring that the household has financial resources."
While most of Soweto's long-term residents are living in adequate accommodation, many residents, particularly new arrivals, live in small, poorly constructed structures that have inadequate access to electricity and water.
Although many of the large corporations have left the Johannesburg CBD and relocated elsewhere, the CBD is still the main source of employment for Sowetans. Only one in five Sowetans works in Soweto itself.
Some residents, particularly hostel dwellers, still have attachments to rural areas and about one in five said that when they retire, they intend to return to a rural area.
HIV/Aids is possibly the major health concern in Soweto, the study adds. Although there has been some success around HIV/Aids education, the level of ignorance is disturbing because a quarter of the residents do not know what Aids is.
On crime, most Sowetans feel that crime has increased in the area in the past five years. Murder and rape concern them the most.
However, residents are proud of Soweto, with five out of every six respondents saying it is a pleasant place to live and 82 percent saying they do not intend leaving.