Poverty Summary

GJMC COMMITTEE

GJMC : PLANNING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

PURPOSE OF THE REPORT

The purpose of the report is to provide feedback on the research, approved by the Council in September 1998, which was commissioned by ISCOR on Urban Development: Urban Governance, Partnership and Poverty and to make recommendations on how the research results can be taken forward. The research report is entitled "Urban governance and Poverty in Johannesburg" and Greater Johannesburg is used as a case study.

INTRODUCTION

The ISCOR commissioned research was done by Dr Jo Beall (London School of Economics), Dr Owen Crankshaw (University of Cape Town) and Associate Professor Susan Parnell (University of Cape Town). The research report provides an analysis and assessment of poverty in Greater Johannesburg. A report was adopted by the Council in September 1998 where the proposal for the research was put forward with the following recommendations:

• That the participation by the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council and specifically the Metropolitan Planning, Urbanisation and Environmental Management Cluster in the two research proposals, as detailed in the body of the report, be approved.
• That the Acting Strategic Executive: Metropolitan Planning Urbanisation and Environmental Management inform the managers of the two research proposals of Greater Johannesburg’s involvement and of the conditions of the involvement.
• That regular progress reports be submitted to committees on receipt of the research outputs and of how the process will be taken further.

The research has been finalised and it reiterates the fact that poverty and inequality in Johannesburg are far from being reduced. This report outlines a summary of the research findings on a charter by chapter basis with specific reference to Greater Johannesburg. The chapters are as follows:

• Chapter One:City Economic Growth
• Chapter Two:Approaches to poverty
• Chapter Three:Service Provision
• Chapter Four:Who runs the City?
• Chapter Five:NGOs, Civil Society and Organisations of the Poor
• Chapter Six:The Urban Environment

This reports also highlights the implications for the Council and makes recommendations on how the research results can be integrated into the Councils ongoing processes.

SUMMARY OF THE RESEARCH FINGINGS

The research states that Johannesburg is seen as a symbol of the twenty-first century city for a number of reasons including that Johannesburg is an unequal and a cosmopolitan city; the economic base is in transition; Johannesburg’s population is expanding and it is a city in which the public and private sectors are renegotiating their relationship. Successful alleviation of poverty is therefore important. The research also states that Greater Johannesburg has had to undergo something of a transition in thinking about disadvantage. This has been the shift in discourse from race to poverty due to differences in the need within each racial group.

3.1 Chapter One: City Economic Growth

In this chapters Johannesburg’s city growth, the role of city government in relation to city growth and the impact of city growth/decline on poverty are discussed. This is done in relation to trends in the South African economy. The research findings show that the economic growth of Greater Johannesburg has followed the national trend and been low for the past twenty years. This has been due firstly, to poor macro-economic policies at national level such as GEAR and secondly, to inappropriate domestic policies such as policies on education and training as well as industrial decentralisation policies which affected Greater Johannesburg seriously because of the large proportion of Africans in its workforce.

National trends are also reflected in the Greater Johannesburg’s employment trends which have been severely affected by the decline in especially manufacturing. Between 1970 to 1991, manufacturing fell from 24 to 16 percent and mining is as low as 5 percent and declining. There has been a steady increase in the service, commerce and finance economic sectors (see Annexure A and B). The slow economic growth rate in Greater Johannesburg has been accompanied by a faster rate of population growth.

Various livelihood strategies have been developed by the poor to cope with unemployment. These include street trading activities (legal and illegal) such as selling of fruit and vegetables, selling second hand clothing and "street hair saloons" which are evident in the Inner City, informal savings (stokvels), renting rooms and communal eating. Other more harmful and ant-social strategies include criminal activities such as hi-jacking and violence. The research highlights the need and importance of understanding the coping mechanisms of the poor so the efforts of local government and other actors do not undermine the existing efforts of the poor.

Recommendations:

• As Greater Johannesburg makes plans for the megacity and determines priorities for the future, the medium to long term plans for improving economic growth should be kept in sight, especially in relation to the alleviation of poverty and the improvement of the standards of living.

2. Chapter Two: Approaches to poverty Reduction

Chapter two looks at various approaches to poverty reduction. Various topics are discussed including the definition and measurement of poverty, scale and trends in urban poverty, responses of the urban poor, content of poverty reduction programmes, and institutional linkages in urban poverty reduction strategies and programmes.

Four basic forms of urban poverty study in South Africa are highlighted. These are the official sources that provide a statistical profile of the whole country such as the census data and the October Household Survey; background poverty studies that inform government poverty reduction policies such as the Poverty and Inequality Report and the poverty hearing held in 1998; academic work on poverty such as work on indicators of living standards and poverty lines; and the poverty studies of metropolitan governments such as the Greater Johannesburg itself. The research findings show that in debates on the restructuring of metropolitan areas such as Greater Johannesburg, issues of sectoral integration of local government functions and institutional and financial reform have become the major issues framing the implementation of poverty reduction programmes. Urban poverty has been increasing steadily in South Africa and in Greater Johannesburg since the late 1970s and is concentrated in clearly defined groups and in easily identified places such as Alexandra in Greater Johannesburg. This is clearly indicated in Map A which shows the number of households below the poverty nine in Greater Johannesburg. According to the research findings, failure in the adoption of systematic poverty strategies has resulted in the lack of efforts to distinguish between the causes of poverty and inequality and the outcomes of poverty.

Further more, the research findings show that there is no clear conception or definition of poverty used within Greater Johannesburg. It is acknowledged however, that Greater Johannesburg has an extensive information base and GIS capacity from which it draws information on areas such as housing, transport and health. It is also mentioned that the Indigence Unit of the GJMC has been established, which has developed an Indigence Policy and is setting out poverty criteria. The general spatial trend in poverty has been the concentration of the poor population in the south-western quadrant of Greater Johannesburg. This is also evident in Annexure C which shows the number of households below the poverty line in Greater Johannesburg.

The case of Alexandra township is discusses in relation to how the poor respond to urban poverty. The research then discussed the regulatory frameworks which have impacted on the poor of Greater Johannesburg. Although there is as yet no overall poverty alleviation strategy within Greater Johannesburg, there are a number of poverty reduction programmes being implemented. The research highlights the diversity in these programmes which range from policy frameworks, to the provision of infrastructure, spatial configuration, area budgeting, a concern with social exclusion, and local economic development. These programmes include the Land Development Objectives and Integrated Development Plans and their focus on the poor.

Other more specific areas of city involvement with poverty reduction are ongoing infrastructure provision such as housing, water and electricity which is the major anti-poverty activity, spatial reorientation to improve access, area based interventions such as the Inner City revitalisation, creation of forums such as the Shelter Forum which looks at homelessness and social exclusion, and the establishment of the Indigence Unit. The research findings, however, show that there is still little public or institutional commitment to link poverty reduction programmes to environmental sustainability.

Recommendations:

• There is a need for an overall poverty alleviation strategy/framework for the metropolitan area. This would include a metropolitan definition of poverty and criteria which are not only income based but also include other social indicators.

2. Chapter 3: Service Provision

Chapter three focuses on the provision of services such as water, sanitation, solid waste and housing. This chapter looks at issues including who provides the service, how it is provided, the standards and quality of the service across the city, and investment in the service. The report will however focus on the standards and quality of service provision.

A major task of the GJMC has been to rectify the imbalances in service and infrastructure inherited from the previous dispensation. These include the provision of inferior services for blacks and the differential, and unequal billing system for urban services in black and white areas. The research findings show that there is a tension emerging between the maintenance of established service levels and the extension of services to new and historically under-serviced areas.

According to the research, poverty reduction priorities in Greater Johannesburg tend to centre on new infrastructure provision. Poverty alleviation concerns include issues of acceptable and affordable standards, redressing of service backlogs, service equity and development of new areas. The barriers to effective delivery include the regulatory environment and the politics of organisational transformation. Current issues of utilities and privatisation being discussed will impact on the affordability of services for the poor.

The standards of water delivery vary enormously according to the original racial occupation of the suburb and the type or generation of housing in which the household lives. Informal settlements are the worst supplied. In low-income formal areas water and sanitation form part of the flat rate for service charges. Standardised water service levels across the metro are yet to be developed. The increase in the population of Greater Johannesburg places a demand on the water mains grid system which already needs a major overhaul because of natural corrosion and deterioration. There is also the problem of water which is lost through pipe lickages.

In terms of sanitation, the service standards reflect that formal housing, even in African areas, has a high level of service while new areas are poorly supplied. Standards of formal sanitary services in Johannesburg are very high, with flush toilets being the norm. A number of sewerage spillages into rivers have occurred due to the problem of maintenance of infrastructure. Greater Johannesburg is generally well drained except for areas such as the Jukskei River where settlements are within the 1:50 year flood line. The familiar pattern of poor levels of service provision in backyard shacks and informal settlements is also reflected in waste collection/disposal. Poor service provision in some areas of the SMLC has resulted in illegal dumping.

The research states that housing, which refers to land, basic service and a small top structure, is the most visible state intervention on behalf of the poor. The findings show that there is variation in the quality of shelter which corresponds broadly to racial patters of settlement, but within African areas there is tremendous diversity in housing standards. According to the research, better quality of shelter was provided by earlier dispensations and service levels such as those of the RDP houses compare well to earlier structures. However, Johannesburg has had a poor record of housing delivery compared to other local authorities.

There is a lack of regulation of public transport and as a result there is little comparative information on service standards. According to the research, high incidences of road accidents, poor cross-city connections and the unpredictability of taxi services affect transport services of the poor of Johannesburg. Traditional methods of cooking and heating continue to be favoured by many poor households even in areas where electricity is provided.

Recommendations:

2. Chapter Four: Who runs the City?

Chapter four looks at the political and decision making processes in Greater Johannesburg. The chapter includes discussions on city governance and the poor, financial resources and the GJMC, and the capacity of governance institutions in Johannesburg. The research provides an account and analysis of the changes that have been happening in Greater Johannesburg and states that the integration is not just about political solidarity but that there is a desperate need for administrative and bureaucratic iniformity. The challenges being faced include the reorientation of resources and regulatory powers towards the needs of the poor and the technical task underway to establish efficient planning, administrative and service delivery systems out of the chaos inherited from apartheid.

In the research, the budget and political constituency of Greater Johannesburg are discussed. It is noted that the questions of who runs the city and who decides how it should be run dominate everyday debate and practice. The production of the White Paper on Local Government has led to the increase in pressure being placed on local government to become the major development vehicle, thus upping stakes for the effective management of Greater Johannesburg. The transitions in Greater Johannesburg from the Committee of 10 to the Committee of 15 and Transformation LeKgotla are highlighted and the uncertainties faced by Greater Johannesburg’s employees are reflected in the research findings. These uncertainties are expected to continue until the local government elections in 2001.

In terms of the political process, the research states that there appears to be a consensus that patrionage escalated over the last six months before the elections and that corruption is flourishing in the Johannesburg climate of administrative uncertainty. Some of the issues that have been contested and debated at political level include functions of the metro and the local councils and the megacity issue. The involvement of organisations representing the poor and other organisations in the municipal political process are also discussed.

In terms of the research the assessment of the validity and commitment of the Greater Johannesburg’s pro-poor stance can only be done on the basis of a review of actions rather that policies. An unambiguous political commitment to addressing the problems of urban poverty in Johannesburg exists. However, transformation of local government has blurred the issue of the commitment to poverty. In Greater Johannesburg the bias towards poverty alleviation is especially clear in the service charge policy, housing and infrastructure policies and in the focus on small to medium micro enterprises (SMMEs). It is less immediately clear in the areas of environment and financial management.

In defining poverty, inequality and disadvantage are the key organising principles of Greater Johannesburg and much of the normal business of local government (service delivery, amenity provision and the construction of infrastructure) is conceived of in terms that priorities equity and seek to optimise the access of all residents. In practice, however, the allocation of targeted poverty reduction resources such as housing, welfare or infrastructure subsidies, use income as the basis for defining poverty. Most departments have a project that could be justified as a poverty initiative. There is a lack of co-ordination of the initiatives and few of the initiatives have been evaluated. According to the research, the next phase of action in Johannesburg centres on the question of performance indicators, monitoring and assessment.

It is acknowledged in the research that Greater Johannesburg is in serious financial difficulty and that a lot of its staff capacity has been lost.

Recommendations:

2. Chapter 5: NGOs, Civil Society and Organisations of the Poor

This chapter focuses on a number on NGOs, civil society organisations (CSOs) and organisations of the urban poor operating in Johannesburg. In terms of the research a good relationship exists between local government officials, politicians and urban NGOs in Greater Johannesburg. One of the organisations mentioned in the research is the Urban Sector Network (USN) which brings together nine major service organisations that are concerned with urban development in South Africa. The USN has a local government programme which aims to represent the needs of the marginalised urban communities in local government affairs through advocating and lobbying in respect of local government policies and providing local government training.

The work of organisations such as Planact, which focuses on local government finance, local economic development, integrated development planning, institutional development, service delivery and social housing, the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, which is concerned with violence and crime, and other NGOs working with women or on gender issues are discussed. The impact of these NGOs on the poor as well as their relationship with government is also discussed.

Civil Society organisations including the South African National Civic Organisations (SANCO), the Soweto Youth Club, Womens organisations in Civil Society such as the Womens National Coalition, an organisation called ADAPT which is based in Alexandra, organisations advancing local culture and Group for Emvironmental Monitoring (GEM) which is an organisation concerned with advocacy and making policy interventions, are discussed in the research. The research findings show that there is diversity in organisations which support the urban poor in Greater Johannesburg.

Community level organisations of the poor discussed in the research include three Johannesburg community based organisations such as the Community Agency for Social Enquiry, Homeless Peoples’ Federation and Peoples’ Dialogue, which is the most well known civil society organisation working with the poor, and the Linbro Park Rate Payers’ Association.

The research states that local government is faced with the challenge of building genuine partnerships with civil society and of institutionalising consultative, participatory and integrated processes and procedures. NGOs have a range of programmes which are designed to reach the poor. The above two sectors can benefit a lot from each other.

Recommendations:

2. Chapter six: The Urban Environment

Chapter six focuses on the urban environment of Greater Johannesburg. The perceptions of environmental problems of various organisations including the GJMC, NGOs, communities and business are discussed. The research then highlights some episodes of environmental accidents/hazards, government interventions in the environment and finally, partnerships with NGOs and CBOs. The authors have acknowledged the fact that the chapter lacks sufficient information and needs to be developed further.

The LDOs were used to extract information on the perceptions of environmental problems in Greater Johannesburg. The mentioned problems include air quality, open space management, catchment management and conservation and cultural heritage. It is noted that community participation and consultation were part of the process of identifying environmental priority issues. Environmental capacity is also a major concern.

The identified perceptions of environmental problems held by the poor communities are limited. The only problem mentioned is that of the ability and willingness to pay for services such electricity. The wealthier communities are concerned with maintaining open spaces and buffer zones between their areas and the formal townships or informal settlements, and the fear of crime and violence. The concerns of two NGOs (Group for Environmental Monitoring and Planact) are also highlighted. Environmental concerns of business are cultural heritage and conservation, while mining is also a concern in relation to air quality. Small-scale business has concerns around environmental conditions under which street traders operate.

Public Safety and Emergency Services and Disaster Management are the departments responsible for dealing with environmental accidents and hazards. Some of these relate to hazardous waste, fires, industrial waste and flooding. The research states that emergency services remain effective even though they are severely stretched and that disaster management does not benefit from good infrastructure and telecommunications as well as an active private sector.

Various government interventions, especially on policies including the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations, 1997 and the White paper on Environmental Management have been put in place. However, the research identifies the fact that there is a lack of inter-departmental coordination between national, provincial and local departments and within each department. In terns of the research, the budgets allocated for environmental management in the Council are small when compared to the challenges and actions which have to be achieved. The implementation of Local Agenda 21 in Greater Johannesburg is also discussed.

As mentioned in previous sections there is a strong commitment to consult on major policy and planning issues in Greater Johannesburg to involve community representatives and other stakeholders at all practicable stages.

Recommendations:

• Greater Johannesburg should focus its efforts on supplementing this section and explore further alternatives for the alleviation of poverty through environmental initiatives.

It is recommended in the research that Greater Johannesburg is chosen in the second round of research to further explore some of the issues which were not covered in detail such as the Inner City. Should this recommendation be adopted, further information will be required from Council officials.

4. FINANCIAL AND LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

The report has no financial or legal implications for the Council.

5. CONCLUSION

The research on urban governance and poverty in Johannesburg has provided valuable input on poverty in the metropolitan area. Information which is in generally unco-ordinated has been put together in one document to provide a clearer picture of poverty initiatives and organisations involved in poverty alleviation in Greater Johannesburg.

The following Annexure are attached:

Annexure A: Growing sectors in the GJMC, 1970-1991

Annexure B: Declining sectors in the GJMC, 1970-1991

Annexure C: No. of Households below Poverty Line.

(P:D(P&ED) 83/99)

Nozipho Zikalala

Metropolitan Sustainable Development Planning

407 6209

27.7.1999

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