ACCESS TO BASIC SERVICES ENABLING PROGRESSIVE TRANSFORMATION OR ENTRENCHING POVERTY AND INEQUALITY?

This report by the Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI) evaluates whether the current South African model for providing basic municipal services—electricity, water, and sanitation—reduces poverty or entrenches inequality. It concludes that the cost-recovery model is a 'lose-lose' system that impoverishes low-income households by forcing them to sacrifice food expenditure to pay for services, while simultaneously failing to ensure the financial viability of municipalities.

• The free-basic-services (FBS) program is failing to reach the households for which it is funded. In the 2019/20 national budget, 10.1 million households were funded for free services, but fewer than one quarter actually received them from their municipalities. Only 1.5 million households—approximately 14.8% of those funded—appear to receive all the free basic services.
• The current model of service delivery is effectively impoverishing millions of households by forcing them to divert funds from essential needs, specifically food, to pay for municipal services. This undermines other state poverty-reduction efforts and exacerbates food insecurity and child malnutrition.
• Municipal service costs have risen significantly faster than inflation over the last decade. Between 2010 and 2020, while headline consumer inflation increased by 68%, the costs for water rose by 213%, electricity by 177%, and rates and taxes by 118%.
• The report proposes a 'Food First' approach to affordability, arguing that for the 4.3 million households living below the food poverty line (R2,340 per month for a family of four as of April 2020), any expenditure on basic services is unaffordable. Including those below the lower-bound poverty line, approximately seven million households should receive basic services at no charge to ensure minimum food security.
• Despite high tariffs, municipal financial health is deteriorating. In the 2018/19 financial year, 79% of municipalities had a financial health status described as 'either concerning or requiring urgent intervention,' and 31% were in a 'particularly vulnerable' position. By the start of 2019/20, 49% of municipalities adopted unfunded budgets.
• Municipal debt has increased sharply, reaching over R230 billion by the end of December 2020. Households owe 72% of this debt, and the Auditor-General estimates that no more than 60% of this amount can ever be recovered due to the households' inability to pay.
• The report concludes that the 'win-win' assumption from the 1998 White Paper on Local Government—that tariffs could be simultaneously affordable for the poor and sufficient for municipal viability—is a fallacy and does not exist in the real world.

APA

Ledger, T. (2021). ACCESS TO BASIC SERVICES ENABLING PROGRESSIVE TRANSFORMATION OR ENTRENCHING POVERTY AND INEQUALITY? Public Affairs Research Institute. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/PARI-Short-Report-Access-to-Basic-Services-V3.pdf

Chicago

Ledger, Tracy. ACCESS TO BASIC SERVICES ENABLING PROGRESSIVE TRANSFORMATION OR ENTRENCHING POVERTY AND INEQUALITY? Public Affairs Research Institute, 2021. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/PARI-Short-Report-Access-to-Basic-Services-V3.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ledger |first1=Tracy |title=ACCESS TO BASIC SERVICES ENABLING PROGRESSIVE TRANSFORMATION OR ENTRENCHING POVERTY AND INEQUALITY? |publisher=Public Affairs Research Institute |date=September 2021 |url=https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/PARI-Short-Report-Access-to-Basic-Services-V3.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ledger2021access, author = {Ledger, Tracy}, title = {{ACCESS TO BASIC SERVICES ENABLING PROGRESSIVE TRANSFORMATION OR ENTRENCHING POVERTY AND INEQUALITY?}}, institution = {Public Affairs Research Institute}, year = {2021}, month = sep, url = {https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/PARI-Short-Report-Access-to-Basic-Services-V3.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }