Social Indicators Research (2007) 81: 357–373 DOI 10.1007/s11205-006-9013-2


Springer 2006

BRIAN O’LEARY

CHANGES IN THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF DURBAN’S PEOPLE* (Accepted 21 April 2006)

ABSTRACT. Durban, the busiest port and second largest industrial hub in South Africa, has a developmental vision that sees its residents living in ‘acceptably serviced housing’ and enjoying a ‘generally high quality of life that can be sustained’. This vision is in response to South Africa’s transitional aspirations to move from an inequitable apartheid state to a democratic society with greater socio-economic parity. Since 1998 the eThekwini Municipality, which is the local authority responsible for the city of Durban, has conducted annual surveys to monitor the changes in the quality of life of Durban’s people. Structured questionnaire interviews were administered in 14 300 dwellings between 1998 and 2005. The samples drawn each year were representative of the city’s demographics and covered a wide range of housing types. Results indicate that parity of life satisfaction between race groups is as far apart in 2005 as it was in 1998. The paper undertakes trend analysis, from a local government perspective, of key objective and subjective variables in the surveys. It identifies the domains that have the greatest impact on satisfaction with life, and reports the salient issues for black householders, who have the lowest level of life satisfaction. KEY WORDS: Durban, quality of life, South Africa, trends

1.

INTRODUCTION

Following South Africa’s first national and provincial democratic elections in 1994 local government elections were held in 1996. This election established the Durban Metropolitan Council, now called eThekwini Municipality, and comprised six Local Councils and a coordinating Metro Council. These seven Councils developed a developmental vision, which included the

*The Research Locale: Durban, which is a port city on the east coast of South Africa, has a population of over 3 million people. The population is comprised of the following groups: Asian (20%), black (68%), coloured (3%) and white (9%). It is Africa’s busiest port and is South Africa’s second largest industrial hub. It provides key trade linkages to Johannesburg, which is South Africa’s largest industrial hub. The major economic sectors are manufacturing, tourism, finance and transport. The complex topography is intersected by 19 rivers that flow to 98 kms of coastline.

358

BRIAN O’LEARY

statement ‘‘with its residents living in acceptably serviced housing, and with a generally high Quality of Life that can be sustained.’’ In motivating for the Municipality to allocate funding for this project it was contended that understanding community aspirations and development agendas through quality of life research would allow the Municipality to establish development programs that would most effectively meet the expressed needs of the people. This research program provided a means of complying with the South African Municipal Structure Act of 1998 and the Municipal Systems Act of 2000, which require community participation in defining development agendas at the local government level. The success of Councils’ implementation of development programs would need to be monitored over time so that changes in peoples’ perception of their Quality of Life could be assessed and to make information available to guide policy makers regarding those actions, which make the most significant improvement in the quality of life of the people. The Municipality agreed to fund annual research beginning in 1997. A Quality of Life Project Steering Committee was established and coordinated two further committees, one comprised of academics from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the second committee comprised officials from Municipal service delivery units. The work of these committees ensured that the research instruments and methodologies were of a high academic standard and were appropriate to service delivery in a Municipal context. The pilot phase of the project used focus group workshops, in-depth and structured interviews in order to determine the key issues of residents. As in the Sustainable Communities Program (Grunkmeyer and Moss, 2002) this pilot research set out to discover the relevant objective and subjective factors through dialog with communities. The questionnaire that was designed in the pilot survey was then modified to ensure that issues important to communities and to local government service providers were accommodated. This paper will discuss the results of the structured household interviews. 2.

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

There has been a tendency to equate progress in service delivery with the quantity of additional units of services delivered to an area. Wee (2000), has raised the concern that objective indicators of the quality of a place are not sufficient to reflect the quality of life in a locale. In response to this concern, this research has drawn on the experiences of the South African Quality of Life Trends Project (Møller, 2004) and the Detroit Area Study (Marans and Couper, 2000). The Quality of Life Project in Durban is owned and driven

CHANGES IN THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF DURBAN’S PEOPLE

359

by local government and therefore to ask residents to assess the quality of their residential areas is essentially a customer satisfaction exercise. Broadly speaking, this research undertakes residents’ assessments of the quality of residential areas and their satisfaction with life domains, and these serve as a means by which local government can assess how satisfied their customers are. The topics researched are outlined below:

Household Socio-economic Dwelling type; family structure; age, education, status employment status, transportation, basic necessity affordability and household income Housing and Tenure, dwelling satisfaction and home improvements home improvement Household services and Level of and satisfaction with basic household services, billing household assets, Municipal consultation with communities, general Municipal efficiency, accessibility and efficiency of the Municipal Billing system Residential Areas Rating of the features of suburbs, rating of public amenities, improvement and deterioration of suburbs Personal well-being Satisfaction with subjective domains of life, blockages to employment, economic outlook, safety and crime, sense of belonging, leisure, every day problems, HIV/AIDS Transportation Trip time, traffic congestion, condition of roads, satisfaction with public transport Perceptions of the city Rating of Municipal achievement of Vision statement, optimism that Durban will become a leading world city

3.

SAMPLE METHODOLOGY

The Durban annual household survey has used a stratified, 2-stage cluster method. The geographical strata have changed during the course of this study. When the study commenced in 1998 there were six Local Councils and these served as the strata. However, following local government reform the six Councils were amalgamated and additional rural land was added to the eThekwini Municipal areas. A Spatial Development Framework was formulated for the new demarcation and this provided four new strata: urban core, urban edge, urban periphery and rural. The sample size was calculated using the following formula (Wenger, 2000. p. 461): n¼

Nðpqz2 Þ NE2 þ ðpqz2 Þ

where z is level of confidence, E is precision (sample error), p is variability, q (1)p), n is sample size, N is households.

360

BRIAN O’LEARY

The first two annual surveys had precisions of close to 1% and subsequent surveys had precisions closer to 3%. With a precision of 3% the resulting sample size was 1200 households, which were to be conducted in 40 primary sampling units (PSUs) where 30 interviews were conducted in each. The PSUs were proportionately allocated to the strata according to the percentage households in each stratum. Within each PSU 30 households were randomly selected as the ultimate sample unit (USU). 4.

4.1.

DISCUSSION OF RESULTS

Life Satisfaction

One of the key questions was the extent to which respondents had been satisfied with their lives over the past year. Figure 1 below indicates the results of the satisfaction with life question from 1998 till 2005. The very satisfied and the satisfied were grouped as satisfied. Likewise, the very dissatisfied and dissatisfied were grouped as dissatisfied. Between 1998 and 2003 there was an inverse relationship between satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Satisfaction peaked in 1999 while dissatisfaction peaked in 2002. During this period the inverse was evident with dissatisfaction and satisfaction in troughs during 1999 and 2002, respectively. From 2003 onwards satisfaction with life has stabilised around 40% with dissatisfaction declining to 29% in 2005. At the same time there has been an increase in the number of residents who have a neutral view of life satisfaction. The South African Quality of Life Trends Project has noted two satisfaction peaks during 1994 and 1999, which coincided with the first and second democratic elections (Møller, 2004). Generally there was a rapid increase in life satisfaction during the first democratic election in 1994 and especially so in the black community. The second election in 1999 also saw a

60 50

%

40 30 20 10

Satisfied Dissatisfied Neutral

0 1998-9 1999-0 2000-1 2001-2 2002-3 2003-4 2004-5

Figure 1. How satisfied have you been with life over the past year.

CHANGES IN THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF DURBAN’S PEOPLE

361

pronounced but lesser general increase in life satisfaction than in 1994. Like the South African Quality of Life Survey, in Durban a large increase in life satisfaction was noted in 1999 but there was a slight increase in satisfaction prior to the third election in 2004 and thereafter life satisfaction has shown little fluctuation, which may be an indication of political maturity. However, dissatisfaction with life has declined over the last 3 years. In 2001 the Global Attitudes Survey conducted research in 44 countries and found that the average South African satisfaction with life level was 33% (Pew Research Centre for the People and the Press, 2002). The Durban study in 2001–2002 found that 34% of the population was satisfied with life, which is marginally more than the South African average reported by the Global Attitudes Survey. The Global Attitudes Survey results also show that on a national level South Africa had a higher life satisfaction level than 17 other nations in the study. Some of the nations with lower life satisfactions were Poland, Jordan, Bolivia, Philippines and India. Reasons for life satisfaction and dissatisfaction were probed. The main reasons given for life satisfaction were good personal health (27%), general happiness (17%), no problems (15%), a good family life (12%), and a comfortable lifestyle (11%). The main causes of life dissatisfaction were illness (47%), unemployment (22%) and financial problems (18%). Health, or lack of it, emerged as the main reason for satisfaction or dissatisfaction with life. It is worth noting that 66% of the sample worried either a little or a lot that they or someone close to them was HIV-positive. A second commonality between reasons for life satisfaction and dissatisfaction relates to a comfortable lifestyle and the means to achieve this. The five most common every day problems mentioned were financial difficulties (28.9%), unemployment (19.5%), crime (12.7%), health problems (8.3%), and family problems (3.9%). Kingdon and Knight (2004), in analysing the results of the South African Labour and Development Research Unit’s nationwide survey of 8,800 households in 1993 have found that subjective well-being is not only related to income but also to education, health, employment and safety. The attainment of democracy in 1994 brought equal rights and freedom for all South Africans. However, due to discriminatory development during apartheid not all South Africans were on equal socio-economic terms in 1994 (O’Leary, 1999). The post-apartheid development agenda included the delivery of infrastructure and social services to deprived areas and has focused strongly on employment equity. In order to monitor the progress of formerly disadvantaged groups official South African statistics include a self assessed race category. Møller (2000, 2001) and O’Leary (2001) noted that

362

BRIAN O’LEARY

the results of the first survey in 1998 showed that life satisfaction varied according to the extent to which people occupied areas neglected under apartheid. Historical disadvantage is related to race and from Figure 2 below it is apparent that parity of life satisfaction between race groups is as far apart in 2005 as it was in 1998. The highest level of life satisfaction occurs in the white community with satisfaction fluctuating around the 80% level. Asian satisfaction has dipped since 1999 and now averages around mid-50%. Generally the coloured community has the next lowest level of life satisfaction and has experienced large fluctuations with current satisfaction nearly on a par with Asians. The black community has experienced limited increases in life satisfaction and these have corresponded somewhat with elections. In the post-election years black satisfaction with life has declined and in 2005 was 26%, lagging the coloured and Asian communities by 29% and the white community by 58%. Kingdon and Knight (2004), in their polychotomous probit analysis of the 1993 survey of 8300 South African households found that race per se is not related to life satisfaction, but rather that the varying circumstances of race groups in South Africa are related to life satisfaction. Following the discussion of trends for the whole sample the trends within the black sub-sample will be discussed. 4.2.

Employment

%

The percentage of the workforce, being the total of those employed and those who are seeking work, that was employed declined from 60% in 1998 to 53% in 2001 (Figure 3). Employment then rose to 64% in 2002 and then declined to 50% in 2004. With the exception of 1999, the life satisfaction

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

White Asian

Coloured Black

1998-9 1999-0 2000-1 2001-2 2002-3 2003-4 2004-5

Figure 2. How satisfied have you been with your life over the past year? By Race.

CHANGES IN THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF DURBAN’S PEOPLE

363

trend followed a downward trend similar to that of the employment trend until 2001. The average number of persons per household is 4.5 and at the rate of R6.628 per Dollar (28/11/2005) a household would need to earn at least R895 per month to escape the Dollar a day per person poverty level. The households that fall below the Dollar a day poverty level amount to 27.2% of the sample. However, an analysis of the costs in Durban of a bundle of basic necessities shows that the amount money that a household would need to acquire these necessities is R1500 pm (Potgieter, 1997). In 2005 as many as 46.2% of households were earning less than R1500. Respondents were asked if they could afford to pay for essentials over the past year. Many households have not always been able to pay for basic commodities. Up to 50% of households could not afford clothing during the year and 49% could not afford health care. The daily expenditure on food and transport seems to have been given the highest priority because 62 and 61%, respectively, maintain that they were able to afford these. Shelter, water, and electricity are also not affordable for many households. Expenditure on leisure is beyond the reach of as many as 64% of households. These figures indicate that large-scale poverty exists in Durban and that sustained economic growth with job creation as well as public investment in housing, health and education is required. In the following discussions of economic experience and expectations, crime, and changes in residential areas, the questions were phrased so that ‘better’, ‘same’ or ‘worse’ responses were elicited. This can be problematic because ‘same as before’ is ambiguous as it is not clear if the previous experience was positive or negative. Because of this ambiguity the 2005 survey probed the ‘‘same as a year ago’’ response to establish if the experience of sameness was a positive or negative one. The responses indicating 70 60 50

%

40 30 20

Employed

10 0 1998-9

1999-0

2000-1

2001-2

2002-3

2003-4

Figure 3. Workforce employment.

2004-5

364

BRIAN O’LEARY

prior negative experiences, which are currently still negative, were grouped with the responses indicating worsening conditions. Conversely, prior positive experiences that remained positive were grouped with perceptions of improved conditions. This resulted in a clear distinction between positive and negative perceptions of these variables. 4.3.

Economic Situation Compared to a Year Ago

Between 1999 and 2001 those who experienced an improvement in their economic conditions remained around 13% (see Figure 4). From 2001 to 2005 those experiencing a better economic condition increased from 9 to 23%. While it is encouraging to see an upward trend over the last four years, this remains a fairly low percentage of people experiencing a better economic situation. The percentage of households that are earning less than the amount that is required to purchase a bundle of basic essentials is 46%. This indicates a very high poverty level and it should also be noted that the percentage in 2005 that experienced no change in their economic situation is also 46%. The percentage of those who have experienced a worsening economic situation has declined from 51% in 1999 to 31% in 2005. Those having a positive experience of the economy over the past year were 40% of the sample. This included the responses having improved economic conditions and those who had constantly good economic conditions. Negative economic experience over the last year were 60% and this was the sum of those experiencing a prior bad economic situation that remained bad, and those who experienced a declining economic condition.

60 50 40 30 20 Same Worse Better

10 0 1998-9 1999-0 2000-1 2001-2 2002-3 2003-4 2004-5

Figure 4.

Economic situation compared to a year ago.

CHANGES IN THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF DURBAN’S PEOPLE

365

While the recent increase in better economic conditions and a decline in worsening conditions are encouraging signs, it must be remembered that there are still 38% of households who cannot afford sufficient food throughout the year. 4.4.

Economic Outlook Over the Next 5 Years

Expectations of improved economic conditions in the next 5 years increased from 43% in 1999 to 50% in 2005 (see Figure 5). Expectations of worsening economic conditions dropped from 40% in 1999 to 22% in 2005. Expectations of similar economic conditions increased from 17% in 1999 to 22% in 2005. Grouping expectations of current positive experiences continuing at the same level with positive expectations resulted in a general positive economic outlook of 60%. Grouping unchanged negative expectations with expectations of worsening economic conditions resulted in a total negative outlook of 40%. This is in stark contrast to the 60% who had a negative economic experience over the past year. 4.5.

Crime Situation in the Past Year

Over the period 1999 to 2005 there has been a marginal increase, from 16 to 24%, in the percentage of respondents who experience an improvement in the crime situation (see Figure 6). Over the same period there has been an encouraging decline from 60 to 40% in those experiencing a worsening crime situation. For those who experience crime as the same as before the percentage has increased from 23% in 1999 to 36% in 2005. Grouping the experiences of crime into negative and positive indicates that 58% had a negative perception of crime and that 42% had a positive impression of the crime situation in 2005. Since 2001 a question regarding crime victimization has been included in the survey. The rate of victimisation increased from 60 50 40 30 20

Improvement Worse Same

10 0 1998-9 1999-0 2000-1 2001-2 2002-3 2003-4 2004-5

Figure 5.

Economic outlook over the next 5 years.

366

BRIAN O’LEARY 70 60 50

%

40 30 20 Worse Same Improvement

10 0 1998-9 1999-0 2000-1 2001-2 2002-3 2003-4 2004-5

Figure 6.

Crime situation in the past year.

30% in 2001 to 35% in 2003 and has now dropped to 24% in 2005. The percentage of the sample that has a negative perception of the crime level in 2005 was twice the percentage of the sample that were victims of crime. The 2005 survey was the first time that positive and negative views were obtained and therefore only future surveys will be able to establish any trends regarding how negative views may persist and lag behind falling victimization rates. 4.6.

Perceived Changes in Residential Areas

One of the key areas of service delivery at the Municipal level is that of a quality living environment. This is where residents should be adequately housed with basic household services and with access to public amenities. It is therefore of key interest to know if the residents perceive their residential areas in a positive light. The level of improvement, as seen in Figure 7, was 23% in 1998 and showed steady but marginal increases until 2000 and then increased to 33% in 2001. Thereafter perceived improvements fell to 18% in 2002 and has since risen to 33% in 2005. Perceptions of deterioration initially showed a marginal decrease from a base of 9% in 1998 and then marginally increased on an annual basis until a level of 19% in 2003 and then it declined to 15% in 2004–2005. Those reporting no change were inversely related to those reporting improvements, with a steady decline in no change from 67% in 1998–1999 to 50% in 2001–2002. Perceptions of no change increased to 66% in 2002–2003 and then declined to 52% in 2004– 2005. Grouping ‘‘no change’’ response for prior good and bad conditions with improved and deteriorating condition respectively, indicates that 57% have a positive impression of their residential areas as opposed to 43% having a negative impression. The most notable improvements reported by

CHANGES IN THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF DURBAN’S PEOPLE

367

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 Unchanged Improvement Deterioration

10 0 1998-9 1999-0 2000-1 2001-2 2002-3 2003-4 2004-5

Figure 7. Perceived changes in residential areas.

residents were the building or improvement of houses, road upgrading and the supply of water. Of the 15% who perceived deterioration in residential areas there were two major issues that emerged, that of crime increase and the slow pace of development in residential areas. 4.7.

Will Durban Become a Leading World City?

Residents were asked if they thought that Durban would become a leading world city. The optimism and neutral trends seen in Figure 8, were almost exact mirror images of each other with optimism rising from 53% in 1998– 1999 to 60% in 2000–2001 and then declining to 44% in 2002–2003 and then increasing to 51% in 2004–2005. Levels of pessimism have been low throughout the study period. In 1998 pessimism was recorded at a low 13% and remained at a low level until being recorded at 12.7% in 2004–2005. Reasons for optimism were redevelopments and upgrades in the city that included the International Conference Centre and uShaka Marine Park, 70 60

%

50 40 30 20 Optimism

10

Neutral

0

Pessimism

1998-9 1999-0 2000-1 2001-2 2002-3 2003-4 2004-5

Figure 8. Will Durban become a leading world city?

368

BRIAN O’LEARY

which were seen as venues for hosting national and international events and also as tourist attractors. These developments as well as local government efficiency were considered to be positive reasons for direct investment. Those who were pessimistic held contrary views, thinking that growth was insufficient, that unemployment and crime was high, and that government was inefficient. Since 2003–2004 residents were asked if they thought that the Municipality was efficient and this figure has risen from 43 to 47% in 2004–2005. The main reasons cited for Municipal efficiency were the absence of problems, the delivery of basic household services, cleanliness, refuse removal and being responsive to maintenance requests. Main reasons for inefficiency were a poor standard of services, lack of service delivery, poorly maintained roads and a slow response to complaints. Very similar reasons were given for efficiency and inefficiency and it is likely that perceptions of inefficiency will remain until affordable and appropriate levels of residential services are provided to the urban and rural settlements in Durban. Residents were asked to assess the Municipality in terms of performance in attaining targets set out in the Municipal Vision. High ratings were achieved for social issues such as a livable city, a city to be proud of, a city where your well-being is cared for, and harmony between residents. However, the Municipality has received low ratings regarding economic and infrastructural issues such as economic growth, quality of life, equal opportunities, rate of supplying basic services and job opportunities. 5.

TRENDS IN THE BLACK SUB-SAMPLE

South Africa is a transitional society aspiring towards greater socio-economic parity. Sanfey and Teksoz (2005) have found lower life satisfaction in 23 Eastern European transitional economies during the 1990s when compared to more developed market orientated economies. Life satisfaction varied between these transitional economies. Higher life satisfaction being reported in countries where inequalities were lower and market reforms were most advanced. Like these transitional economies, the Durban surveys reveal similar tendencies. There are still vast inequalities within the sample. The black sub-sample, who on average have a lower socio-economic status, express lower life satisfaction. Figure 9 shows that since 2003 black dissatisfaction with life has, like life satisfaction, also declined over the past 3 years. The percentage of black people who record neutral life satisfaction has grown from 8% in 2001 to 36% in 2005 and was nearly on a par with life dissatisfaction. Being less

CHANGES IN THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF DURBAN’S PEOPLE

369

70 60 50 40 30 Dissatisfied

20

Satisfied

10

Neutral

0 `1998-9`1999-0`2000-1`2001-2`2002-3`2003-4`2004-5

Figure 9. Satisfaction with life trend: Black.

dissatisfied than before does indicate some form of progress although this is in a very negative sense. There has been substantial delivery of basic services to formerly disadvantaged households in Durban. Since 1994, 98 933 new water connections have been made so that 82% of households had access to safe drinking water in 2001 and it is estimated that the backlog will be cleared by 2010. In the 5 years between the 1996 and 2001 the percentage of households that had electricity connection rose by 5%, from 74 to 79% (Statistics South Africa, 1996 and 2001). The percentage of households with access to safe and adequate sanitation in the municipality increased from 65% in 1996 to 76% in 2001. The percentage of households with weekly solid waste collection by the municipality increased from 70% in 1996 to 85% in 2001. A great deal of this delivery of basic household services has been to formerly disadvantaged black areas but satisfaction with life has not increased, at best dissatisfaction has decreased. Understanding what would increase life satisfaction for people in general, and the black sample in particular, is an important element to feed into the development agenda. The questionnaire probes the most important community features and facilities, reasons for improvement or deterioration of residential areas, reasons for life satisfaction and dissatisfaction, and every day problems. The most important community features and facilities are safety, health, accessibility and transport, value when paying for rates and services, education and community halls. The most important residential area improvements were housing and related infrastructure. The important deteriorations were crime, slow development, unemployment, dirt and litter and water supply problems. Respondents stated that good health, happiness, a comfortable lifestyle, a good family life and adequate shelter are necessary to be satisfied with life.

370

BRIAN O’LEARY

Reasons for dissatisfaction with life were illness, unemployment, inadequate living conditions and family problems. The issues identified when probing for day-to-day problems were very similar to the reasons given for life dissatisfaction. However, the responses referring to day-to-day problems identified security in addition to the issues raised in the life dissatisfaction responses. Satisfaction with elements of residential areas, dwellings and basic services, community amenities, subjective domains, and satisfaction with the Municipalities achievement of its vision were correlated with life satisfaction. The variables that have the highest correlation with life satisfaction are personal health, household income, standard of living, personal income and housing support services. Linear regression of these variables against satisfaction with life shows that satisfaction with ones own health and satisfaction with standard of living account for most of the variation in life satisfaction. The open-ended questions regarding reasons for life satisfaction, everyday problems and residential area improvement could not be correlated or regressed but still need to be considered. When considering the correlations, regression results and open-ended questions, the following emerge as being considered by the black sub-sample as necessary for satisfaction with life: good personal health, an adequate standard of living, a happy family life, good social connectivity, a safe environment, fulfilling leisure activities, welfare services, and a steady reduction of development backlogs. 6.

CONCLUSION

Local government regulates the spaces in which residents live and work and can therefore play a major role in some aspects of quality of life. Decisions regarding the optimal spatial location of housing projects and how these are linked to work opportunities, public amenities and recreational spaces are all within the mandate of municipalities. In the South African context this involves dealing with an apartheid legacy in which spatial location decisions were far from optimal and disadvantaged the black community more than any other group. Against this historical backdrop, the trend in satisfaction with life has reached a static level of 40% over the past three years. During these 3 years these has been a steady decline in dissatisfaction with life and an increase in neutrality. This is indicative of general social stability and while a decrease in dissatisfaction with life is encouraging, there needs to be a greater effort to deliver services that will have the greatest positive impact on quality of life.

CHANGES IN THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF DURBAN’S PEOPLE

371

The Pew study of 44 nations also found that 17 nations had lower life satisfaction levels than South Africa (2001). The quality of life in Durban was marginally higher than the South African average for 2001 and some of the nations with lower life satisfaction were Poland, Jordan, Bolivia, Philippines and India. Despite 10 years of democracy in South Africa, during which time considerable effort has been made to achieve socio-economic parity, considerable inequalities still exist. The black majority experienced the most disadvantage of any group under apartheid and currently on average experience the lowest satisfaction with life. Understanding their aspirations and problems and reducing the services backlog so that the aspirations of these people are met, will increase levels of life satisfaction. These aspirations are multifaceted and in some instances beyond the core business of local government, and therefore they can only be achieved through partnerships between the three tiers of government and also with civil society. The respondent’s main areas of concern were identified through using open-ended questions to ascertain the main reasons for life satisfaction, major day-to-day problems, reasons for community improvement and municipal efficiency, and through correlating and regressing satisfaction with place and satisfaction with life domains against satisfaction with life. There is a great deal of common interest between the sample as a whole and the black majority. For the sample as a whole the following were identified as being the main drivers of life satisfaction: • • • • •

• • • •

Good personal health Sufficient household income to afford a comfortable life style A good family life Being care free and generally happy, and Feeling safe. Ten years have passed since the demise of the apartheid regime and it is important to note that the black sub-sample has identified the following issues in addition to those identified by the sample as a whole: Good social connectivity Fulfilling leisure activities Welfare services, and A steady reduction of development backlogs. Clearly the ill effects of apartheid, such as fragmented black communities, limited economic access, severe lags in infrastructural and social service delivery, have not yet been eradicated.

372

BRIAN O’LEARY

Good personal health has been identified as being the most important factor and this is an area where government can play a significant role by promoting a healthy lifestyle through sports and recreation, regulating environmental health, and by playing a strong role in preventative and curative health care. A negative economic experience was reported by as many as 60% of households in 2005. Unemployment is high and many households could not afford sufficient shelter, water, electricity, health care, clothing, food and transport at all times over the past year. In response to this, Government can provide a climate for economic growth with high levels of job creation by developing and maintain infrastructure, invest in skills development and create a stable economic environment in which business has the confidence to invest. Expectations of improved economic conditions in the next 5 years were held by 60% of respondents. However, public opinion of the capacity of local government in Durban to eradicate developmental backlogs is varied. High ratings were achieved for social issues such as a livable city, a city to be proud of, a city where your well-being is cared for, and harmony between residents. Low ratings were given for economic and infrastructural issues such as economic growth, quality of life, equal opportunities, rate of supplying basic services and job opportunities. Overall, the Municipality was considered efficient by 47% of respondents in 2004–2005 A negative view of the crime situation is held by 58% of the population and a safer society can be promoted through crime prevention, safer urban designs, through social development and through supporting moral regeneration. Wong (2000), in analyzing the relationship between local economic development and quality of life found that ensuring that the traditional factors of production are in place is necessary for local economic development but that quality of life factors are essential for successful economic development. It is encouraging that South African local government developmental policies require community consultation and participation in determining the development agenda. Local areas plans, which meet the needs identified by the public, will be able to significantly improve the quality of life.

REFERENCES Grunkmeyer, W.T. and M.L. Moss: 2002, ÔThe sustainable community model approach to the development and use of multi-dimensional quality of life indicators’, in M.J. Sirgy, D. Rahtz

CHANGES IN THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF DURBAN’S PEOPLE

373

and D.-L. Lee (eds.), Community Quality-of-Life Indicators, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht. Kingdon, G.G. and J. Knight: 2004, ‘Well-being poverty versus income poverty and capabilities poverty in South Africa?’ (The Centre for the Study of African Economies. Working Paper Series, GPRG-WPS-003, Oxford), p. 35. Marans, R.W. and M. Couper: 2000, ‘Measuring the quality of community life: A program for longitudinal and comparative international research’, Proceedings of the Second International Conference on quality of life in cities, 8–10 March, vol. 2 (University of Singapore, Singapore), pp. 386–400. Møller, V.: 2000, ÔMonitoring quality of life in Durban, South Africa’, in F.T. Seik, L.L. Yuan and G.W.K. Mie (eds.), Planning for a Better Quality of Life in Cities, (School of Building and Real Estate, National University of Singapore, Singapore), pp. 313–329. Møller, V.: 2000, ÔMonitoring quality of life in Durban’, South African Urban Health and Development Bulletin 3(3), p. 10. Møller, V.: 2001, ÔMonitoring quality of life in cities: The Durban case’, Development Southern Africa 18(2), pp. 217–238. Møller, V.: 2004, ÔResearching quality of life over time: Lessons from the South African case’, in I. Gough and J.A. McGregor (eds.), Well-Being in Developing Countries: New Approaches and Research Strategies, (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge). O’Leary, B.: 1999, ‘South African patterns of inequality and reform relating to socio-economic status and access to services’, Chapter contributed to J.C. Thill (ed.), Spatial Multicriteria Decision Making and Analysis: A Geographic Information Sciences Approach (Ashgate, NY), pp. 223–244. O’Leary, B.: 2001, ‘Residential quality of life and needs assessment research in durban, South Africa’, Paper presented at the Fourth Conference of the International Society for Quality of Life Studies (Washington DC), p. 25. Pew Research Centre for the People, the Press: 89 2002, Global Attitudes Survey (Pew Research Centre for the People and the Press, Washington DC, USA), p. 89. Potgieter, J.F.: 1997, ‘The household subsistence level in the major urban centres of South Africa’ (The Institute for Development Planning and Research, Fact Paper No. 105, Unversity of Port Elizabeth). Sanfey, P. and U. Teksoz: 2005, ‘Does transition make you happy?’ Working Paper 91 (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, London), p. 31. Statistics South Africa.: 1996, Community Profiles (Statistics South Africa, Pretoria). Statistics South Africa.: 2001, Community Profiles (Statistics South Africa, Pretoria). Wee, H.: 2000, ‘Quality of life assessment: Is quality of place an appropriate proxy?’ Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Quality of Life in Cities, 8–10 March, vol 1 (University of Singapore, Singapore), pp. 163–174. Wegner, T.: 2000, Quantitative Methods for Marketing Decisions (Juta, Cape Town). Wong, C.: 2000, ‘The relationship between quality of life and local economic development: An empirical study of local authority areas in England’, Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Quality of Life in Cities, 8–10 March, vol. 1 (University of Singapore, Singapore), pp. 656–666.

Corporate Policy Unit eThekwini Municipality Durban, South Africa E-mail: [email protected]