There is a fundamental need to address the tension between a market-based economic system premised on tough competition and the desire to build a caring society, according to the Macro-Social Report recently released by government.
The data in the discussion document on the macro-social trends in South Africa, released by government in June as the Macro-Social Report (MSR), depicts a society in dynamic change, both materially and spiritually. It is however debatable whether some of the trends, for instance in social mobility, are a reflection merely of immediate corrections to the history of discrimination. While there is an improving sense of an over-arching national identity, the persistence of racial profiles with regard to most of the macro-social indicators points to the road yet to be traversed. Also, of significant importance is the challenge of mediating or negotiating the tension between a market-based economic system premised on cutthroat competition and the desire to build a caring society predicated on human solidarity. The two main issues that the MSR helps us to engage with are: nation building (including matters of social integration, social cohesion and social identity) and social values (including practices in relation to self-advancement).
Overall, the report concludes that significant progress is being achieved in many social development areas, both hard (like poverty, livelihoods, etc) and soft (like social integration, national identity, etc). However, in some areas the magnitude and pace of progress could have been better.
Background Given the enormity of challenges that faced the democratic government when it was elected in 1994, there is agreement across the board that there has been significant progress. Government's own assessments in 'Towards the Ten Year Review', 'A Nation in the Making' and in the Programme of Action that is published on the government website, and independent studies, attest to this progress.
The new government took over in 1994 when:
In the face of these challenges by 2005:
The report addresses the following questions:
MAIN TRENDS
The report highlights main trends on selected key issues, such as poverty and inequality, demographics, households dynamics, migration, social organisation and national identity.
There seems to be some consensus that the proportion of people living in income poverty increased marginally during the period 1993-2000. Recent research conducted by Van den Berg et al shows that there has been a marked decline in poverty since 2000, from approximately 18.5 million poor people to approximately 15.4 million poor in 2004.
Another recent study, by Bhorat et al, shows that the share of the poorest 10% of households with access to piped water increased by 187% between 1993 and 2004, with similar gains reported for sanitation services. The authors contend that the share of households with access to electricity for lighting and cooking has shown particularly spectacular gains, access to electricity for lighting for the poorest tenth of households - those in decile 1 -grew by a phenomenal 578%. The study further shows that access to formal housing grew by 42% and 34% for deciles 1 and 2 between 1993 and 2004, and 21% and 16% for deciles 3 and 4.
In terms of inequality, using expenditure share measures, between 1995 and 2000, data shows that in 2000 the poorest 20% accounted for 2.8% of total expenditure. In contrast, the wealthiest 20% of households accounted for 64.5% of all expenditure in 2000. The gini coefficient, another widely used measure of inequality, was 0.59 in 2000 (when social transfers are excluded). If included, it would be 0.35.
DEMOGRAPHIC DYNAMICS
The age distribution of South African society broadly resembles that of developing countries, with more than 50% of the population below the age of 24 years. However, when broken down by race, the patterns resemble those of developing and developed countries, with the two extremes being the African and white populations. While there has been a slight aging of the population (reflecting low fertility rates) between 1996 and 2001, the overall pattern remains the same.
Different demographic patterns are displayed in the populations of the Provinces. In Provinces like KwaZulu Natal, Eastern Cape and Limpopo there is a large proportion of young children and teenagers with a small proportion of young adults and a slightly larger proportion of the very old.
The Western Cape and Northern Cape have a larger share of the aging population, while Gauteng reflects an anomaly, with an artificially 'bloated mid-rift', with a large proportion of the age-group 20-49 years, due in large part to the proportion of migrants to the province. This is linked to increasing numbers of women who are migrating. Initially they take their young children with them; however when the children reach school-going age they send them to live with family members back home.
Census 2001 data shows that 20% of the population of major metropolitan areas, and in some of the regional centres and small towns are new migrants.
Inter-provincial migration and intra-provincial migration has been a key feature of the transition over the last decade.
Of the people who have changed residence at least once between October 1996 and October 2001, 31.4% had moved between provinces. This has resulted in a net gain or loss for some provinces. The biggest loss was from the Eastern Cape (253,000 people) and Limpopo (163,000 people). The biggest gains were in Gauteng (418,000 people) and the Western Cape (182,000 people). The movement of people is generally to those provinces perceived to be having higher economic potential.
HOUSEHOLDS DYNAMICS
Between 1996 and 2001 the number of households increased by approximately 30%, almost three times the rate of the population increase. The number of households increased from 9.1 million in 1996 to 11.8 million households.
Inversely average household size has declined from 4.5 to 3.8 persons per household over the same period.
In terms of household types, there has been a large increase in extended household types (7%), and the corresponding decrease in the nuclear family type household (5%). The single household type increased by 2%. It is also important to note that the number of households living in three or fewer rooms has not changed much in this period (46% in 1996 and 47% in 2001).
TRENDS IN SOCIAL ORGANISATION
The social organisation trend in South Africa since 1994 has been contradictory, with ebbs and flows. Membership in political parties since 1994 has remained highest. After the 1994 elections, there was a general decline in membership of all organisations except for political parties. In 2001 there was a large increase, with youth organisations experiencing the greatest surge (75%), followed by anti-crime organisations (67%), women's organisations (60%) and trade unions (50%). It is critical to note that a large percentage of South Africans (over 85%) are religiously affiliated.
Overall, the trend points towards improving social cohesion, although weaker social networks result in less effective social capital, especially in African communities.
Over the last few years we have seen the development of a South African identity that reflects a shift away from a largely racial identity. The surveys of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) in 1994, 1995 and 1997 showed that between 50% and 70% of South Africans considered racial or nationality/language categories as their primary form of social identification. However, there has been a significant shift, as the Future Fact 1999 Mindset Survey of South Africans 16 years and older showed, that 53% of the respondents defined themselves as South Africans and 17% defined themselves as African. In terms of race, 80% of whites, 79% of Indians and 73% of coloureds and 45% of Africans defined themselves as South Africans.
Language and/or nationality are the strongest as a primary form of identity among Africans (at 23%) compared to less than 4% among other population groups. Language identity is strongest among those in the lower income bracket and those with low educational qualifications. Across all population groups the younger people use the identity of African or South African to describe themselves. Nationality remains a feature of identity across age groups, in particular with Africans over 50 years of age, of whom 22% use nationality/language to self-describe.
Overall, the chain of inherited social attributes - across distribution of wealth and income; access to social services such as education, housing, water and electricity; lifestyles including sizes of households and age demographics, health and mortality profile, forms of social organisation and social capital; and matters of identity and culture - still manifests itself, though decreasingly, in terms of the racial fault-lines. With regard to a number of attributes, the younger generation seems to demonstrate practices, attitudes and an identity that is strongly integrative.
The report depicts major trends that require attention and national effort, not only of government but of all of our society. Effective partnerships on speedily improving material and social conditions of our people and on improving social cohesion are critical. Of fundamental importance is the need to address the tension between a market-based economic system premised on tough competition, and the desire to build a caring society. This is not merely a matter of social values, but also one that impacts public policy: as a tension firstly between encouraging individual self-advancement and collective development, and secondly between encouraging individual excellence and social equity. Society's value systems reflect a tension between market-based competitive relations and the aspiration for equitable development in a caring society. This tension finds expression in the creative sphere and mediums of discourse. There is also a continuing struggle to affirm an Afro-centric consciousness against a mindset to glorify everything in developed countries as superior and infallible. This in part reflects a social pathology to seek affirmation from other nations and thus to view ourselves through the prism of other countries' opinions.
The launch of the report for public discussion has provided an opportunity for interaction across society on these issues. On its part government is distilling the conclusions of the report for their implications on public policy. Taking into account public comments, specific macro-social interventions will be developed for implementation.
*This is a summary of the document 'A Nation in the Making: a Discussion Document on Macro-social Trends in South Africa', released by government in June 2006. The full document is available at www.info.gov.za/otherdocs/2006/socioreport.pdf.
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