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Using Indicators of Multiple Deprivation to Demonstrate the Spatial Legacy of Apartheid in South Africa

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Abstract

This paper presents a spatial analysis of multiple deprivation in South Africa and demonstrates that the most deprived areas in the country are located in the rural former homeland areas. The analysis is undertaken using the datazone level South African Index of Multiple Deprivation which was constructed from the 2001 Census. Datazones are a new statistical geography designed especially for this Index using techniques developed in the United Kingdom. They are smaller in population size than wards, enabling fine-grained spatial analysis of deprivation across the whole of South Africa. The spatial scale used is the smallest to be used in a developing country to date. Levels of deprivation are compared between former homeland areas as a whole, the rest of South Africa and a case-study township, as well as between each former homeland. Individual dimensions of deprivation and an overall composite measure are presented. Municipality-level analysis shows that this spatial pattern of multiple deprivation continued to persist in 2007, demonstrating the ongoing spatial legacy of apartheid.

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Notes

  1. As will be explained below, the analysis makes use of the full (or ‘100%’) version of the Census.

  2. The datazones are described in more detail below. Their average population size is 1,962 people.

  3. The non institutional population comprises the population that did not spend the Census night in an institution e.g. prisons, hospitals, army barracks or a tourist hotel.

  4. Magisterial districts—of which there are 354—are a subdivision of provinces created for the justice system and relate to the location of magisterial offices.

  5. Municipalities are the area of jurisdiction of the third sphere of government, after the national and provincial levels. There are six metropolitan municipalities. Non-metropolitan areas are divided into 47 district municipalities which contain 231 local municipalities and 25 district management areas which are mainly deserts or conservation areas with low residential populations.

  6. These aggregate counts are non-disclosive as individuals cannot be identified at this spatial level.

  7. This technique involves moving unreliable datazone scores (i.e. those with large standard errors) towards another more robust score, in this instance the municipality mean. For further details see Noble et al. (2001b).

  8. This is not the case for the Health Domain as it is expressed at datazone level as Years of Potential Life lost and the former homeland averages are not calculable from the data available.

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Acknowledgments

The research on which this paper is based was funded by the Department of Social Development of the Republic of South Africa with resources from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) Southern Africa as part of their Strengthening Analytical Capacity for Evidence-Based Decision-Making (SACED) Programme. Statistics South Africa is gratefully acknowledged for granting permission for the datazone level SAIMD to be produced using the 2001 Census.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for the Analysis of South African Social Policy, Oxford Institute of Social Policy, University of Oxford, Barnett House, 32 Wellington Square, Oxford, OX1 2ER, UK

    Michael Noble & Gemma Wright

  2. Human Sciences Research Council, Cape Town, South Africa

    Michael Noble

  3. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa

    Michael Noble

  4. Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa

    Michael Noble

  5. University of Fort Hare, Alice, South Africa

    Michael Noble

  6. Department of Sociology and the Institute of Social and Economic Research, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa

    Gemma Wright

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Correspondence to Gemma Wright.

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Noble, M., Wright, G. Using Indicators of Multiple Deprivation to Demonstrate the Spatial Legacy of Apartheid in South Africa. Soc Indic Res 112, 187–201 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-012-0047-3

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