South Africa has embarked on the construction of 2,3-million subsidised houses since 1994, the Presidency said on Thursday.
Releasing a set of 72 indicators of development, it said the number of households had increased because of population growth and a shift to smaller households.
Today, 85% of households had access to water, compared with 61% in 1994; 71% had access to sanitation, up from 50% in 1994; and 80% had access to electricity with 4,2-million households connected since 1994.
While land restitution was almost complete with the finalisation of more than 73 000 claims, progress in land redistribution had been slow.
The Presidency also said poverty had decreased since 2000 and the income of the poorest had increased.
”However, the rate of income-increase for the poor has not matched that of the better off, so income inequality has not decreased,” it said.
These findings were among 10 broad themes under which the Presidency has grouped the set of 72 development indicators it released on Thursday.
”The government believes that this information will help enrich public discourse on who we are and where we are going as a nation,” it said in a statement.
”This set of key development indicators provides pointers to the evolution of our society up to the middle of this government’s term …”
The Presidency described the indicators as ”objective markers helping define milestones of social change” and said they mapped out in detail a broad picture of overall progress — with some big challenges.
As far as good governance was concerned, the Presidency noted that the country’s tax administration system had become much more effective, with double the number of 1996 taxpayers.
While the number of qualified audits of national departments had increased, there were fewer in provincial and municipal government.
Although Transparency International had found increased perceptions of corruption in South Africa, the World Bank said it compared well with other countries in private firms’ perceptions of corruption in their dealing with public institutions.
”South Africa is ranked amongst the top six countries with regard to the openness and transparency of budgetary processes,” it said.
Other themes of indicators were economic growth and transformation, employment trends, health, education, social cohesion, crime and international relations. — Sapa