Indigent Program: 22% of households granted free basic services

Were you aware that, if South Africa were a suburb of 100 households, 22 would be beneficiaries of government’s indigent programme? In 2001, South Africa adopted a policy intended for the provision of free basic services to poor households. Under this policy, municipalities identify indigent households that would receive services – such as water and electricity – for free or at substantially subsidised rates.

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HOUSEHOLDS TO REGISTER FOR FREE BASIC SERVICES

Households are required to register with municipalities to qualify for free basic services. A municipality’s role is to vet every application, selecting only those households that meet various criteria. Successful applicants are granted indigent status. Municipalities often run awareness campaigns to ensure that households are aware of the application process.

Households are required to register with municipalities to qualify for free basic services.

Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) on its website says a municipality’s role is to vet every application, selecting only those households that meet various criteria.

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“Successful applicants are granted indigent status. Municipalities often run awareness campaigns to ensure that households are aware of the application process,” says the agency.

Indigent status isn’t for life, however, as the economic status of a family might improve over time.

“To ensure that only the deserving families are catered for, municipalities require registered households to reapply for indigent status on a regular basis, often once a year.

“There are constraints. A municipality might not be able to service all indigent households that have successfully registered, due to lack of funds or inadequate infrastructure.”

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MUNICIPALITIES

Municipalities determine their own criteria for identifying and registering indigents. To a large extent, this determination is based on the resources available to the municipality.

Between 2019 and 2020, the number of consumer units receiving services from municipalities increased to 3.6 million, according to Stats SA’s 2020 Non-Financial Census of Municipalities. This was an increase of 6.4% from the 2019 financial year.

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Of the 3.6 million identified indigents, 2.7 million households benefited from the indigent support system for water, while 2.1 million benefited from free basic electricity provided by municipalities.

Written by Sihle Manda for GCIS VuK’ZENZELE