Best and worst cities for basic services in SA

Johannesburg is the country’s leading city in providing basic services, according to a report released on Wednesday.
It came first among nine cities in providing households with water, sanitation, and refuse removal between 2010 and 2013, according to the “State of South African Cities” report.
It is released by the South African Cities Network every five years and compares Buffalo City, Cape Town, Ekurhuleni, eThekwini, Johannesburg, Mangaung, Msunduzi, Nelson Mandela Bay, and Tshwane.
For Johannesburg in 2013, access to piped water in a dwelling or yard was at 90.5% of households, access to flush, outside and pit toilets 98.5%, and refuse removal 96.8%.
In second place was Cape Town, whose delivery of water remained stagnant at 89.8% over the same period. Access to sanitation was 96.3% of households, and refuse removal just under 94% in 2013.
Ekurhuleni had the highest percentage of households with access to sanitation. Access to water was at 86.3% of households, access to sanitation at 98.2%, and refuse removal at 89.5%.
Tshwane’s access to water was at 88.7%, access to sanitation 98.1%, and 83.2% of households had refuse removal in 2013.
In Buffalo City in the Eastern Cape, access to water was 63.6%, sanitation services 91.1%, and refuse removal 70.1%.
In Nelson Mandela Bay access to water was 86.9%, sanitation services 94.2%, and refuse removal 91.6%.
Ethekwini increased access to all three services over the three years. Access to water reached 78.5%, sanitation 96.6%, and refuse removal 88.2%.
The Msunduzi municipality had increases in access to both water (84.9%) and sanitation (98.1%). Access to refuse removal was at 54.6%.
Mangaung made steady progress across all three areas. Access to water rose to 88.3% of homes, sanitation to 96% and refuse removal to 83.8%.
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