Western Cape’s metrics on health, education and per capita income are far higher than national average
22 April 2024 - 16:59
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Western Cape premier Alan Winde. Picture: SUNDAY TIMES/ESA ALEXANDER
Ayanda Sakhile Zulu’s letter refers (“DA benefits the rich”, Business Day, April 17). The accusation that the DA-led government in the Western Cape only benefits the affluent and not the majority of residents is incorrect.
SA is one of the most unequal societies in the world, but the Western Cape is the only province where this horrific statistic is stabilising or reversing. Over the past five years under DA governance, the province has consistently maintained lower income inequality than the national average. The Western Cape’s Gini coefficient now stands at 0.59 and has consistently fallen in recent years. By contrast, the national average has remained stubbornly at 0.68.
Further success in this regard is illustrated by the Western Cape’s ongoing improvement in the Human Development Index (HDI), which measures the following three aspects of human development: health, education and per capita income. The HDI in the province improved from 0.61 in 2001 to 0.74 in 2021 and is higher by 10 decimal percentage points than the national figure.
While these figures are encouraging, we have much more to do. That is why of the provincial government’s budget of R255.29bn over the next three years, 75.4%, or R192.21bn, will be spent on directly meeting the needs of poor and vulnerable residents. This will include allocations for primary healthcare, home and community-based care, mental health services, pupil transport, the school nutrition programme, low-income housing, food gardens in communities and schools, child and youth care centres, and poverty alleviation programmes.
Importantly, we also know that nothing stops a bullet like a job, nothing puts food on the table like a job and nothing gives dignity like a job. That is why we have a plan to create 800,000 jobs in the Western Cape.
Already, the province has the lowest unemployment rate in SA — more than 10 percentage points lower than the national unemployment rate of 32.1%. In the past five years four out of every five jobs in SA were created in the Western Cape.
I note that the author lives in Hatfield, Pretoria, and I would welcome him coming to visit and seeing for himself the progress we are making.
Alan Winde DA Western Cape premier candidate
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: DA delivers for the poor and vulnerable
Western Cape’s metrics on health, education and per capita income are far higher than national average
Ayanda Sakhile Zulu’s letter refers (“DA benefits the rich”, Business Day, April 17). The accusation that the DA-led government in the Western Cape only benefits the affluent and not the majority of residents is incorrect.
SA is one of the most unequal societies in the world, but the Western Cape is the only province where this horrific statistic is stabilising or reversing. Over the past five years under DA governance, the province has consistently maintained lower income inequality than the national average. The Western Cape’s Gini coefficient now stands at 0.59 and has consistently fallen in recent years. By contrast, the national average has remained stubbornly at 0.68.
Further success in this regard is illustrated by the Western Cape’s ongoing improvement in the Human Development Index (HDI), which measures the following three aspects of human development: health, education and per capita income. The HDI in the province improved from 0.61 in 2001 to 0.74 in 2021 and is higher by 10 decimal percentage points than the national figure.
While these figures are encouraging, we have much more to do. That is why of the provincial government’s budget of R255.29bn over the next three years, 75.4%, or R192.21bn, will be spent on directly meeting the needs of poor and vulnerable residents. This will include allocations for primary healthcare, home and community-based care, mental health services, pupil transport, the school nutrition programme, low-income housing, food gardens in communities and schools, child and youth care centres, and poverty alleviation programmes.
Importantly, we also know that nothing stops a bullet like a job, nothing puts food on the table like a job and nothing gives dignity like a job. That is why we have a plan to create 800,000 jobs in the Western Cape.
Already, the province has the lowest unemployment rate in SA — more than 10 percentage points lower than the national unemployment rate of 32.1%. In the past five years four out of every five jobs in SA were created in the Western Cape.
I note that the author lives in Hatfield, Pretoria, and I would welcome him coming to visit and seeing for himself the progress we are making.
Alan Winde
DA Western Cape premier candidate
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
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