THE latest report by the South African Cities Network (SACN) reveals that eThekwini has grown its revenue source by seven percent and has increased access to all basic services rolled-out to communities over the last five years
EThekwini Mayor James Nxumalo welcomed the report saying: “In spite of challenges facing our cities, we have progressed by making our cities more inclusive, improving service delivery and ensuring that citizens have a place they can call home. Delivering services and improving lives is at the heart of what we do.”
He said the United Nations is looking to cities as key role players for localised strategies to ensure that the Sustainable Development Goals are being achieved, and the State of the South African Cities Report 2016 provides the municipality with key data and a basis that would inform our strategies and policies going forward.
The report also revealed that eThekwini’s unemployment rate had decreased the most since 2011 when compared to five other large metros. In 2001, eThekwini’s average unemployment figure was 43 per cent and it dropped to 30.2 per cent in 2011. The report also states that the number of people living below the poverty line was 40 per cent in 2001 and this number decreased to 30 per cent in 2011.
According to the report, the number of households that have access to sanitation services in the City was 96.6 per cent in 2013. This includes access to flush toilets, VIPs and pit toilets.
While the report highlighted positive service delivery achievements in the City, it also states that expanding access to water services in the rural outlying areas remains a challenge in eThekwini. In this regard, the city has invested R1.8 billion in laying a 73km pipeline that will run from Intshanga to Ntuzuma. Work on the second phase of the western aqueduct, bulk water pipeline infrastructure project is set to begin in 2017. The pipeline is expected to significantly strengthen the capacity of bulk water supply and meet the needs of the greater eThekwini region for the next 30 years.
