What is Municipal Indigent Policy Framework - Government Policy to Poor South African Municipality

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What is an indigent Management policy?

What are indigent households?

An Indigent Policy is a government policy aimed at ensuring that poor households are not excluded from accessing basic services (such as water, electricity and sanitation) provided for by the government. The purpose of a Municipal Indigent Policy is to therefore provide a framework and structure to support poor households within a Municipality by providing a support programme for the subsidization of basic services to indigent households.

Four facts about indigent households published by Statistics South Africa on http://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=11722

Fact 1: 22% of households are classified as indigent

In 2001 South Africa adopted a policy intended for the provision of free basic services to poorer households. Under this policy, municipalities were tasked to identify indigent households that would receive services – such as water and electricity – for free or at substantially subsidised rates.

South Africa’s 257 municipalities registered 3,51 million indigent households in 2017.1 That’s about 1 in every 5 of the country’s 16,2 million2 households (click on the image to enlarge).

Fact 2: Eastern Cape has the widest coverage

Municipalities in Eastern Cape registered almost 730 000 indigent households in 2017, comprising 44% of all households in that province. The municipalities with the highest number of indigent households in Eastern Cape were O.R. Tambo District Municipality (153 000 households) and Nelson Mandela Bay (112 419 households).

Fact 3: eThekwini has the largest number of indigent households

Half of South Africa’s 3,51 million indigent households were located in just six municipalities. eThekwini was home to about 627 000 indigent households, comprising 18% of the national tally. Tshwane had the second highest number (474 035 households), followed by Cape Town (213 424 households) and Johannesburg (178 599 households).

Fact 4: It is up to municipalities to determine who is indigent

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.

In 2017 most municipalities (147 out of 257) classified an indigent household as a family earning a combined income of less than R3 200 per month. Eleven municipalities (nine local municipalities and two district municipalities) adopted a lower income poverty threshold of R1 600 per household per month.

Municipalities can also decide on the extent to which they subsidize an indigent household. The general rule is that indigent households are entitled to 6 kl of free water per household per month and 50 kWh of free electricity per household per month.3 The extent to which sanitation and refuse removal services are subsidized varies from municipality to municipality.

The provision of basic services to the poor remains a top priority for government. With over half of South Africa’s population in poverty,4 and with the economy in recession in the first half of 2018, the indigent programme continues to be a vital lifeline for the 22% of households that would otherwise not have had access to basic services.

An indigent policy provides an opportunity to create a safety net to the poorest section of the population. 
Poverty is more than a lack of income. Poverty exists when an individual's or a household's, access to income, jobs, infrastructure or services is inadequate to ensure full access to opportunities in society.

What is an indigent policy?

The Municipal Indigent Policy is intended to guide the national initiative to improve the lives of indigents and to improve access to Free Basic services. It provides a high level framework to guide the national initiative to improve the lives of the indigent.

What is indigent management?

Indigent Programme Management received requests for indigent burials from households who are poor and are challenged to bury their deceased due to insufficient or lack of resources to do so.
In 2001 South Africa adopted a policy intended for the provision of free basic services to poorer households.

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