Gender inequalities are substantially less in the Western Cape than elsewhere in the country, the province’s budget revealed. The budget stated that there are no significant differences between woman-headed households and others, and the unemployment rate of women is no higher than that for men.
But it also revealed that the “fairest Cape”, it seems, is not so fair after all.
The budget, entitled iKapa Elihlumayo (The Growing Cape), turns a spotlight on the extent of deprivation in the province. It reveals that unemployment in the Western Cape is at 25,5%. Only 28,1% of its population up to the age of 20 has completed matric or some form of tertiary education.
The average household income, the budget reveals, is R3 816 a month. About 38 000 new TB infections were recorded last year, while the HIV/Aids antenatal infection rate is 9%.
The housing backlog stands at about 320 000 units, way beyond the province’s construction target of 20 000 houses a year until 2006.
Just more than half a million of the 3,97-million residents receive social security grants. This number is expected to increase by 81 000 this year and to reach 642 000 by 2005.
The number of needy people is being constantly swollen by an influx from outside the Western Cape. It is estimated that 48 000 people migrate to the province each year.
The province has used R30,6-million of R1-billion it generates from gambling, interest on investments and liquor and motor licensing to top up funds received from the government for its HIV/Aids programme. The Western Cape received R24,2-million from the national government.
Of the R16,4-billion budget, 52% is earmarked for spending on health, housing and welfare, while 40,2% goes to education and infrastructure.
MEC for Finance Ebrahim Rasool said that the province was seeking to top up its coffers by introducing a provincial fuel levy and a bed levy, “a fair trade-off for world-class infrastructure”. The extra cash would be channelled towards poverty alleviation.