An estimated 40% of South Africans reside in the six metropolitan municipalities. The capacity of these areas is often stretched due to urban migration. The number of households in the metros grew by 14.4% from 2001 to 2007. The highest growth was in the City of Tshwane, from 561 772 households in 2001 to 686 640 households in 2007, a growth of 22.2%. The eThekwini metro experienced the lowest growth from 786 746 households in 2001 to 833 859 households in 2007, a growth of 6%.

The unemployment rate is higher in the metropolitan municipalities than in the small town and rural municipalities. In the Metsweding District Municipality in the Gauteng province, the unemployment rate was 12.1% in 2007, while the unemployment rate in the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality in the same province was 22.0%.

This could be because the metropolitan areas offer greater potential for employment as opposed to small towns and rural areas. Statistics South Africa defines the unemployed as persons aged 15-65 years who did not have a job or business in the seven days prior to the quarterly labour force survey interview but had taken steps to start a business or find a job in the four weeks prior to the interview and were available to take up work within two weeks of the interview.

People who are jobless are not necessarily unemployed according to this definition. People may also be regarded as not economically active – those who are neither employed nor unemployed, and are regarded as not being part of the labour market. These “not economically active” people need to be taken into account when analysing the socio-economic situation in South Africa.

According to the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey, the number of unemployed people decreased from 4.12 million in the third quarter of 2008 to 3.87 million people in the fourth quarter of 2008, a decrease of 6%. The number of discouraged work-seekers increased from 1.07 million to 1.17 million, an increase of 9.1%.

Not including discouraged work-seekers in the analysis creates a misleading picture of the state of development in the municipalities.

The municipal outreach project focuses specifically on eight major urban areas in the country, including the six metros. The challenges faced by these major urban areas are significantly different from those faced by smaller and rural areas, as seen in the comprehensive analysis of socio-economic indicators for different municipalities in the February issue of Fast Facts for Local Government (F3LG). F3LG is a monthly publication sent to local councillors, officials, and development organisations in the eight municipalities covered by the project. A weekly newsletter is posted on the project website (www.eumunicipaloutreach.org.za) on Fridays, and e-mailed to project beneficiaries. The annual South Africa Survey, published by the South African Institute of Race Relations, will be posted to municipalities and extracts posted on the project website.

Workshops will take place during the course of the project in each of the eight municipalities. The first will be the Major Urban Poverty Challenges Identification (MUPCI) workshops which will take place during 2009, and will be designed for elected councillors and officials to identify what they see as the major poverty challenges facing their constituents. The Urban Poverty Intervention (UPI) workshops will take place during 2010, and will explore policy interventions appropriate to the challenges identified in the MUPCI workshops. The Anti Poverty Intervention Implementation Proposals (APIIP) workshops will take place during 2011, and will formally propose the policy interventions identified in the first two years.

Municipal councillors and officials, as well as development organisations working within these municipalities, are encouraged to participate in this pioneering initiative to combat poverty in South Africa’s major urban districts.

-Nthamaga Kgafela