“Eastern Cape, the poorest province”, announced a newspaper headline last week. This public statement came from a comprehensive report issued last week by the Eastern Cape Department of Social Development.
The report contained shocking information including:
“Eastern Cape, the poorest province”, announced a newspaper headline last week. This public statement came from a comprehensive report issued last week by the Eastern Cape Department of Social Development.
The report contained shocking information including:
- Seven out of 10 children are being raised without the presence of their father.
- A third of women who consume alcohol may be at risk of alcoholism and alcohol-related diseases.
- Men are being forced to leave home in order to look for work in other cities
The study concludes, “extraordinary measures by the government and all development partners are required in order to break the shackles of structural poverty and their consequences among the population of the province.”
The dire economic situation of the Eastern Cape did more than just paint a picture of poverty. It illustrated who the Eastern Cape residents are, how they live, where they work, and what they are dying of.
Life expectancy
The life expectancy at birth increased by five years since 2001. An average child born today will live to see:
- The world’s population climb past 9 billion (2050).
- Whether the events in the movie Minority Report will come true (2054).
- The end of the world, according to Isaac Newton (2060).
- The return of Haley’s Comet (2061).
However, they will not live to see:
- The 100th anniversary of the moon-landing (2069).
- The holes in the ozone layer completely recover (2070).
- Technology that allows us to record people’s dreams to video (Speculated for some time in the 2070s).
- Michael Jackson’s music enter the public domain (2079).
Migration
In 2007, 76% of children under the age of 10 did not live with their biological father. One of the reasons is the migration of working-age men to other provinces. Current economic hardships and low levels of employment in the Eastern Cape are forcing large numbers of residents to move away from home.
The study notes migration patterns among men and women between the ages of 20 and 39.
The households these people leave behind are often left to be headed by women and the elderly, and tend to be larger than those unaffected by emigration.
Of the people who had left the Eastern Cape, 88% travelled to either the Western Cape, Gauteng, or KwaZulu-Natal provinces. This signals an increasing movement from rural areas to urban centres such as Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Durban.
Booze data
The most recent data shows that from 1998 to 2003, the number of males who drank was four times greater than the number of female drinkers.
However, while risky drinking behaviour among males declined from 27% to 22%, the number of female drinkers engaging in risky behaviour climbed from 29% to 33%. Therefore, it appears that those women who drink alcohol are at a higher risk of abusing it.
Ageing population
From 1996 to 2007, the number of people over the age of 65 increased by a third, and the percentage of the overall population past the age of retirement grew from 5.8% to 7%.
The Eastern Cape’s unique demographics make the increased number of elderly people as much a cause for concern as celebration.
Almost half of the province’s households are headed by someone over the age of 50, due to men looking for work in other provinces.
The authors of the report are concerned that once these people reach retirement age, it will place a heavy strain on the social services programme that already directs more than a quarter of social grants to pensioners.
