Economic instability determines fathers' involvement
JOHANNESBURG - South Africa is a country battling the issue of absent fathers, which has led to many broken families.
According to the latest numbers from Stats SA's 2024 General Household Survey, over 45% of the country's children live with their mothers only.
This number is higher in rural areas, at 50.3%
Dr. Charley Pietersen, founder of the Growing Up Without a Father Foundation, said that there must be an investment at an early age, which means investing in young men before they become fathers, and that this should begin in schools.
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The South African
09-07-2025
- The South African
THIS many residents could get free electricity and water … but don't
A new report from Stats SA shows worryingly low uptake for free electricity and water services to the indigent. Plus, the number of South African households receiving free electricity and water has only been declining over the last decade. For those who are unaware, government's Free Basic Services policy was adopted back in 2001. The goal was to offer free electricity and water and other basic services (like refuse collection and sanitation) to indigent South African households. However, the numbers are declining … Do indigent residents even know about these Free Basic Services available to them? Image: File The latest data from Stats SA shows a concerning decline in the uptake of free electricity and water, reports Daily Investor . As a result, experts believe municipalities may be be too selective and the money is being syphoned away. Or awareness of Free Basic Services might be lacking on the ground. And applicants of free electricity and water can't be bothered to deal with the rigmarole annually. Central to the near quarter-century-old policy is that only eligible households will receive services at no charge. These are typically retirees or old-age SASSA grant recipients who do have homes, but are unable to keep up with maintenance and other costs. Over the time of Free Basic Services, the cost of electricity has increased by more than 450%. Image: File As such, Free Basic Services includes a minimum amount of electricity, water, and sanitation that the government considers sufficient. The amounts provided differ per province and municipality, as do the fineries of each application process. Likewise, depending on means, some households might qualify for 100% subsidies. While others may only qualify for less than 100% depending on the criteria set. However, on average, free basic electricity and water should include 50 kWh and 6 000 litres of water per month. And sanitation can be subsidised up to R50 per month. Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has expressed confidence in a load shedding-free winter. Image: Pexels Nevertheless, Stats SA has telling data on why the uptake is declining. From 2014 to 2023, nationally, the percentage of consumers getting free water declined from 38% in 2014 to just 16% in 2023. Similarly, the percentage of consumers getting free electricity dropped from 25% to 14% over the same period. As such, the drop in free electricity and water usage is being attributed municipalities being more selective and/or households not being aware of the services. And let's not forget that from 2007 to today, electricity has risen 450%. This is more than three-times more than inflation over the same period. Even more telling is the fact that 80% of South African households – an estimated 5.4-million residents – are likely eligible but don't receive these free basic services. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
IOL News
08-07-2025
- IOL News
Brining down the digital divide
The lack of access to fast, reliable and affordable internet has long been a stubborn brick in the metaphorical wall of inequality that separates the haves from the have nots in South Africa. Andiswgileis a 24-year-old mother from Kayamandi, Stellenbosch and a fibertime™ customer. She works for a call centre, which is based in Belville, Cape Town. Andiswgile spent two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening commuting to and from work. A fast, uncapped fibre connection at her home means that she can now work from home, saving her around 80 hours of commuting time and hundreds of rands in taxi fare, a life-changing time and money-saving, while her ability to show up as a mother is transformed. Hers is one of thousands of stories of people whose lives have been deeply affected by fibre installations at their homes. The digital divide The lack of access to fast, reliable and affordable internet has long been a stubborn brick in the metaphorical wall of inequality that separates the haves from the have-nots in South Africa. It's time for us to grab our sledgehammers and get cracking on smashing down that wall. I believe that proper, affordable, fast internet is somewhere where we can make a real, measurable impact in a relatively short time. The COVID-19 pandemic brought the digital divide into stark light as children were called to stay home from school and adults from work. While educational institutions in wealthier neighbourhoods managed to continue teaching via the use of online resources, learning for many children in poorer communities came to a sudden halt. Similarly, workers with internet access were able to continue doing their jobs, while those without saw their ability to earn an income disappear. As of January 2024, according to Stats SA, there were 45.34 million active internet users in South Africa. With a population of roughly 61 million, that means that around 16 million South Africans don't have internet access. An additional layer of complexity to the equation is that many of those who have internet access only have that access through mobile devices or through mobile service providers, who offer their services at far higher prices than fixed-line operators, it's great that we have those services and I'm not knocking them, but the costs are a huge barrier. In fact I'd argue that high costs have arguably become a larger obstacle than connectivity for most South Africans. Let's connect people in townships to the Internet. In 2010, I was watching my daughter, who was using my tablet. She was two years old, she was surfing the web to her heart's content, and it dawned on me that not only did she have great books, and she was likely going to go to a great school, but she also had unlimited access to the internet. An advantage, already so acute, already almost impossible to overcome for a child from the township, was ever widening. I became obsessed with the idea of providing cheap, fast internet to those residing in townships. The ambition was to create a solution while also creating a viable, profitable business. While there is currently a study being conducted by the Bureau for Economic Research in Stellenbosch, which is nearing completion, we still don't know what the exact economic impact of internet access in the country is. However, anecdotally, we can tell that there is an enormous economic and educational outcome from bringing affordable internet into an area that didn't have it. We increasingly live in a world where every aspect of your life is lived online, and when you put an uncapped connection into someone's home, you change their life. Think sending a CV for a job application or making a Home Affairs appointment, which you can only do online, which can be the difference between having to go and stand in queues for an entire day, or even multiple days, or just going there for a few hours. Social media is obvious, but so too are platforms like LinkedIn, conducting video calls, selling goods on online marketplaces, and parents being able to know where their kids are and what they're doing, because they're at home on the internet. Setting about tackling a problem so deeply rooted in inequality, with Apartheid's lengthy shadow, and specifically its legacy of spatial planning and the associated poor township infrastructure, is no simple task. Additionally, ineffective governance in townships and the fact that virtually none of the rules of suburbia or traditional business apply amplify the enormity of the task. Execution The idea to bring internet connection to townships may sound clear and simple enough, but I can vouch for the fact that it's not and that it's easy to get distracted. There were various companies started that, through a combination of business challenges and getting sidetracked by the comparative ease of doing business in the traditional suburbs, saw projects lose either their focus or their viability, In 2017, fibertime™ was created. It required an extremely clear intention and needed to function without distraction. The idea was to create an internet service provider that is one hundred percent focussed on townships and will not provide anything less than a fibre connection. I've learnt along the way that anything other than fibre is not worthwhile. A lot of people go into the townships thinking, well, something is better than nothing, but we agreed that we're going to take every possible risk to give people the best available internet connection. 100mps up- and download speed as an absolute minimum. Already, users in Kyamandi, Mangaung, KwaMashu, Imfoleni, Kraaifontein, Nyanga, Gugulethu, Kwa Nobuhle, Motherwell, Zwide, Alexandra, Ivory Park and elsewhere are connected while rollouts continue in East London and Tshwane too. Customers can buy R5 vouchers, which give them 24-hour access to the network. They can choose to buy one every day, which means that for R150 they get a full month of uncapped fast fibre internet for the entire household to use, or, if they can't afford that, they can join the network again when funds are available. And because the entire neighbourhood is connected, a device that's linked to the network can be used anywhere in the area that has coverage, meaning in many ways it is a mobile solution also. A township digital revolution that's gaining momentum Available in every single home of the areas serviced, installation is free, and every home gets a router installed. So, when the internet rolls out in Alex, every household gets a router, no exceptions. The pay-as-you-go fibre solution is also a first for South Africa and a model that has proven extremely effective in the country. I believe this level of rollout can be achieved everywhere there is a township. There are an estimated 17 million homes in South Africa. I think it's massively underestimated, but officially, there are 17 million homes in South Africa. Four million of those homes are in the suburbs, and they're effectively one hundred percent connected to the internet. The other 13 million homes are in townships and rural areas, and most of them can be connected. Looking even wider, there are three billion people who live in areas without proper internet access around the world. The very exciting potential exists to connect everyone of them to fast, reliable, affordable internet. Alan Knott Craig, founder of fibertime, which explores the issue of affordable fibre access in South Africa.
IOL News
30-06-2025
- IOL News
Why StatsSA's credibility remains strong amidst criticism
StatsSA is an institution that remains a jewel and a precious gem that sheds light in the nooks and crannies of our society, says Pali Lehohla Image: AI LABS To our Johnnies come lately albeit in their old age in the world of public measurement, I thought an orientation is necessary. I remind them of my statement when StatsSA was granted the rights to host the very first World Data Forum in 2017 which gave rise to the Cape Town Global Action Program (CTGAP). This granted South Africa a sacred responsibility of custodianship as the mother of the World Data Forum. Smirching statistics for no sound reason and out of ignorance is attracting a thunderbolt that will make the grey listing march like a clown on the Union Building Grounds. It is tempering with keg powder. In my capacity as the Statistician-General and host of this prestigious conference was nothing short of affirmation of confidence in Statistics South Africa in the world of statistics. This picture and its integrity has not changed seven years on and counting under the Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke. The World Bank had this to say about the CTGAP, 'Since 2017, the Cape Town Global Action Plan for Sustainable Development Data (CTGAP) has provided a framework for planning and implementing the statistical capacity building activities needed to achieve the scope and intent of the 2030 Agenda and to mobilise funding for the modernization of national statistical systems across the world.' StatsSA is an institution that remains a jewel and a precious gem that sheds light in the nooks and crannies of our society. Yet some ignoramus amongst us had the audacity to cast aspersions on this institution. Perhaps they are horrified by our perpetual inability to get out of a downward spiral and they attribute this to the floodlight that places this deepening deformity under the searchlight. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading Certainly, there is nowhere to hide as StatsSA has amply showed. To just go down the memory lane for any doubting Thomas here was my statement when the United Nations Press asked me about what I envisioned as the host institution for the very first World Data Forum in early January 2017. The first question I addressed was, "What do you expect from the first-ever United Nations World Data Forum? What outcomes would you like to see?" Statistics is a conduit of trust. It is a currency that holds a global promise for Transparency, Results, Accountability, Sustainability and Transformation (TRAST). It, therefore, creates the possibility and can facilitate global peace, progress and prosperity. It is for this reason that post-World War II, when the paragon of world peace, the United Nations, was established, statistics was central to it. From the very first-ever United Nations World Data Forum that will be held in Cape Town from 15-January, 18, 2017. I have two messages. First I expect that society in its entirety should understand the value and beauty of statistics, and that without society as collective respondents and purveyors and actors on data, without statistics and measurement, without high-quality statistical evidence, without appropriate indicators to communicate the evidence, without informed issue identification and informed policy action for results and remedy, and without the statisticians themselves, the world does not have an information system for any form of development, let alone sustainable development. The second message is especially crucial for first and foremost statisticians themselves, so that they realise their historical calling. To be of service to global peace, progress and prosperity, statisticians must transform. The only way statistics can be useful is by engaging actively with the purveyors and politics of policy making and makers, academia, geoscience and locational technology, NGOs, technology, finance, media and citizenry. The second question I had to address was, "As a statistician, what do you see as the main challenges and opportunities we have for how to use data in the service of sustainable development?" My answer was that one major challenge is to realise this vision of 'you are because I am and we are,' that is the global Ubuntu; each one counts and therefore it counts to be counted. In many poor countries registration of the beginning, living and demise of life is woefully inadequate. Censuses of the population and population models are poor substitutes for a properly functioning civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) system in countries. In Africa, from 2010 we initiated a vibrant CRVS movement, although it waned and now it is in dire need of a life-saving jab. It however still remains a pioneering act. Another challenge is to understand that without geographic or spatial attributes, statistical tables count for very little. At an analytical level, geographically weighted regression has demonstrated the instrumentality of spatio-temporal determinants in policy design and implementation. And this calls for the application of detailed geography for a differentiated approach to influence appropriate policy outcomes. For this to happen, disaggregation of phenomena into its atomic attributes is not only desirable but it is mandatory. In human populations this disaggregation would be by age, sex, disability, employment status, school attendance, education level, income and all this by space across time in order to leave no one behind. All these challenges require capacity and resources – to improve current methods and to find ways to incorporate new data sources. It is all an opportunity as well – because of the framework created by the Millennium Development Goals, we made a lot of progress on statistics at the national level around the world, and now we will make even more progress, in ways we can't even imagine. Dr Pali Lehohla is a Professor of Practice at the University of Johannesburg, among other hats. Image: Supplied Dr Pali Lehohla is a Professor of Practice at the University of Johannesburg, a Research Associate at Oxford University, a board member of Institute for Economic Justice at Wits and a distinguished Alumni of the University of Ghana. He is the former Statistician-General of South Africa. *** The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Independent Media or IOL. BUSINESS REPORT
