With municipal elections rapidly approaching, the latest South African Consumer Satisfaction Index shows which municipalities in the country score top points with citizens.<\/p>\n
In the lead up to the elections, on 3 August, South Africans are being flooded with promises from numerous political parties, which creates expectations in the minds of the people.<\/p>\n
According to a new citizen satisfaction study released by SAcsi, SA\u00a0 municipalities are falling dismally short of the expectations of their citizens.<\/p>\n
The independent study measured satisfaction among residents of municipal services across eight of the largest SA metropolitan municipalities, with an\u00a0overall score of 59.5 out of 100 being\u00a0pointedly lower than the average scores across a number of private sector industries reported by Consulta.<\/p>\n
For its index, SAcsi surveyed 2 679 residents in a randomly selected sample comprising residents in the major municipal districts of Cape Town, eThekwini, Tshwane, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, Nelson Mandela Bay, Mangaung and Buffalo City.<\/p>\n
Cape Town successfully maintained its previous leadership position, scoring significantly higher than the average at 70.3 out of 100 (marginally down from 2015: 71.9).<\/p>\n
eThekwini, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni scored on par with the average at 61.4 (2015: 65.4), 59.5 (2015: 61.5) and 58.1 (2015: 58.3) respectively.<\/p>\n
All the other measured municipal districts scored below industry par: Johannesburg at 54.7 (2015: 60.2) Nelson Mandela Bay at 54.0 (2015: 51.8), Mangaung at 52.9 (2015: 51.5) and Buffalo City at 47.6 (2015: 47.1).<\/p>\n
| #<\/th>\n | Municipality<\/th>\n | 2015 Score<\/th>\n | 2016 Score<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1<\/td>\n | Cape Town<\/td>\n | 71.9<\/td>\n | 70.3<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n| 2<\/td>\n | eThekwini<\/td>\n | 65.4<\/td>\n | 61.4<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 3<\/td>\n | Tshwane<\/td>\n | 61.5<\/td>\n | 59.5<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | <\/td>\n | Industry Average<\/em><\/td>\n | 61.8<\/em><\/td>\n | 59.5<\/em><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 4<\/td>\n | Ekurhuleni<\/td>\n | 58.3<\/td>\n | 58.1<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 5<\/td>\n | Johannesburg<\/td>\n | 60.2<\/td>\n | 54.7<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 6<\/td>\n | Nelson Mandela Bay<\/td>\n | 51.8<\/td>\n | 54.0<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 7<\/td>\n | Manguang<\/td>\n | 51.3<\/td>\n | 52.9<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 8<\/td>\n | Buffalo City<\/td>\n | 47.1<\/td>\n | 47.6<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n | According to Prof. Adr\u00e9 Schreuder, founder of SAcsi and CEO of Consulta, citizens are voicing their frustrations in increasingly violently ways.<\/p>\n “Perhaps the time has come to include citizen satisfaction as a formal scorecard of effectiveness for each municipality,” he said.<\/p>\n “Low scores are a three-year trend for municipalities, so this is not a case of one bad year. None of the eight major municipalities are meeting the expectations of their residents, although Cape Town residents rate services as closest to their expectations.”<\/p>\n The top drivers of satisfaction in order of importance to residents are water problems, street and\u00a0road quality, electricity, parks and\u00a0public areas, and garbage and\u00a0trash.<\/p>\n Schreuder said that the top three issues revolve around keeping municipal areas neat and tidy, maintaining existing infrastructure and providing reliable services.<\/p>\n More on SA municipalities<\/h3>\nHow SA municipalities make money<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The richest and poorest municipalities in South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Irregular expenditure at municipalities doubles<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n |