The quality of life for people living in Gauteng continues to improve generally.

These are the results of the Gauteng City-Region Observatory's (GCRO) 5th Quality of Life Survey (2017/2018), which show that, despite very challenging economic conditions, overall quality of life in the province continues to improve.

The survey, which sampled almost 25,000 people, also found increases in residents' satisfaction with all spheres of government in the recent period.

During an interview with Sowetan this week, GCRO executive director Rob Moore said the Quality of Life Survey found that over 90% of 28,167 respondents who were interviewed for the research have access to piped water in their dwelling or yard, adequate sanitation, and electricity for lighting.

"At the provincial level, access has been fairly consistent over time. However, at the municipal level there have been a number of shifts since 2015/2016," reads the report.

"There is evidence of improvements in access to water in Merafong, Lesedi and Rand West, and a clear improvement in water, sanitation and electricity in Midvaal.

"By contrast, access to all basic services has dropped in Tshwane," reads the report.

Moore said unemployment, crime and drugs were the biggest source of concern for black communities.

"The 2017/2018 data does reveal a substantial drop in those respondents saying they had weekly municipal refuse collection. While 88% of respondents reported weekly refuse collection in 2015/16, this has dropped to 83% in 2017/18," reads the report

"The observation is that though everybody is reporting slight improvement in their quality of life, improvements for whites and Indians are much stronger than for blacks and coloureds. Their sense of quality of life lags significantly behind whites and Indians," Moore said.

Premier David Makhura, while delivering his fifth political report recently at the provincial legislature in Johannesburg, lamented the fact that the rise in inequality was threatening to overshadow the positive strides made.

"Although inequality declined from 0.75 to 0.70 between 2000 and 2009, the last decade has seen a sharp increase in inequality. Data shows that Africans and those classified as coloured continue to lag behind their white counterparts," he said.

Makhura added that the pro-poor fiscal policies and anti-poverty programmes of the national and provincial government have seen poverty declining from 10.5% in 2001 to 4.6% in 2016.

"There are 1.3million people who are food insecure who receive food packages from the provincial government due to more acute levels of urban poverty and hunger, especially certain households in Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, Sedibeng, West Rand and northern areas of Tshwane," said the premier in his report.

"The cumulative developmental impact of all the investments being made in education, health, housing and basic services can be seen in the sustained improvement in the Human Development Index (HDI) and Quality of Life Index (QOLI), both of which are borne out by research.

"Gauteng has an above-average HDI of 0.71 and sustained improvement in the Quality of Life Index from 6.02 in 2011 to 6.30 in 2017/18. Although inequality declined from 0.75 to 0.70 between 2000 and 2009, the last decade has seen a sharp increase in inequality.

"The equitable redistribution of land and access to education and skills are some of the more potent instruments which could reverse inequality and inter-generational poverty," Makhura continued in the report that detailed progress made by the provincial government over the past four years.

His comments come as the size of the public education system has doubled from 1.2million learners in 1994 to 2.4million learners this year.

"The provincial government has also bumped up access to Early Childhood Development in the past four years, from 83,000 children to 483,000 children while also channelling resources in expanding access to education for 48,180 learners with special educational needs."

Makhura added that his government built strategic partnerships with the private sector "through industry action labs" focused on various industries and sectors.

He also spoke about the important initiatives that he introduced to improve governance and engagements with communities.

"We introduced several ground-breaking reforms and initiatives as part of the TMR- Ntirhisano Rapid Response System and Community Outreach programme...

"Ntirhisano has changed the way government works. Through the more than 80 community engagements and proactive site visits, we have been able to keep more regular contact with communities.

"Ntirhisano has also forced government departments to be community-oriented by ensuring that issues for public meetings and site visits form part of the annual performance plans of departments and budgets.

"What makes me happy is that more than 80% of the issues raised by communities are in the process of being resolved, while progress has been much slower with municipal and national government-related issues.

"There is now evidence from the Quality of Life surveys that the performance rating of the provincial government by Gauteng residents has steadily been improving since 2015/16.

"In particular, the 2017/18 survey reveals that satisfaction with government is at its highest level of 45% since 2011, while national government is at 43% and local government is at 39%.

"It is my considered view that Ntirhisano has contributed strongly to the improvement in satisfaction with the provincial government. However, it is a serious weakness that we are often unable to go to a community as the whole-of-government to listen to, engage with and resolve community concerns. We must fix this weakness for the sake of the citizens."