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In the first of our new series in which we look at specific regions/districts of South Africa, we looked at SOWETO in more detail. And in the 2nd of this series we look at the polar opposite area located very close to SOWETO, called Sandton. The formeer being known as SA's most famous township and extremely poor area, while the latter hosts the JSE, majority of banking firms (foreign and local) and some of the most expensive real estate in South Africa.
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Sandton in numbers
According to Statistics South Africa there were 222 415 people living in Sandton at the time of the last Census (2011). There were 94 343 households in Sandton, 56.4% of residents aged over 20 years had a higher education, 93.9% of Sandton residents had piped water inside their dwelling, while around 97.8% had electricity of lighting, and around 97% had access to a flush toilet connected to a sewerage system. The image below provides a graphical representation of the data mentioned above.
Based on these numbers and comparing it to SOWETO, SOWETO's population is 5.7 times the size of Sandton. The racial breakdown of Sandton, is in stark contrast to that of SOWETO, where 98% of SOWETO was made up by Black Africans, the majority of Sandton's population is made up by Whites (with just under 50% of the total Sandton population). The image below shows the population groups as a percentage of the total population in SOWETO.
Black Africans make up 34.7% of the population of Sandton, with Coloureds making up 2.5%, Indian/Asian making up roughly 11% of Sandton's total population. Males make up 47,6% of the population in Sandton, while Females make up 52.4% of the population. The languages spoken in Sandton is clustered around English and Afrikaans (with these two languages making up over 70% of languages spoken in Sandton). IsiZulu coming in in 3rd place with 6.3% of people in Sandton speaking IsiZulu.
The language table above is in contrast to that of SOWETO, where IsiZulu dominated and English and Afrikaans barely featured. Again as mentioned in the SOWETO in detail page, this is largely as a result of apartheid policies forcing Black Africans to stay on the outskirts of cities. The next table will take a look at the Tenure status of households in Sandton. Do households, own, rent, occupy for free etc.
A large portion of households in Sandton rent the dwellings they stay in (21.4%), but this is far less than what was reported by citizens in SOWETO (who recorded almost 29% of households rent). 21.4% of Sandton households reported that they own the dwelling they stay in but that it is not fully paid off yet, while only 7.1% of SOWETO residents reported occupying rent free (which is a lot less common in Sandton that in SOWETO). So what kind of household goods are owned by Sandton households?
In today's smartphone driven world, it is hardly surprising to see that 97.8% of households in Sandton reported to own cellphones, while 48.6% reported to own a landline telephone. 77.8% of households in Sandton reported to own a motor car, while this was 23.6% for those staying in SOWETO. A far greater percentage of Sandton households reported to own refrigerators, computers, satellite television, televisions, radio's etc. Clearly showing the income divide between the two regions.
Sandton is known for being an extremely affluent area so when looking at the graphic below showing the proportion of Sandtons households earning income in various income groups it is not surprising that a large number of households living in Sandton earn substantial amounts of money.
Sandton
While around 18% of households in SOWETO reported to earn no income, only around 7% of households in Sandton reported the same. 49.9% of households in Sandton reported to earn a income of more than R307 600 a year (while in Sandton only 4% of households reported to earn more than R307 600 a year). Again showing how skewed South Africa's income distribution is. And this between two districts that are very close to one another. It is hardly surprising that there are continued protests regarding service delivery and economic inclusion for all South African citizens.
For reference to SOWETO's income, the SOWETO graphic is shown below. As can be seen income in Sandton is clustered around the higher income groups, while for SOWETO it is clustered around the lower and no income groupings.
For reference to SOWETO's income, the SOWETO graphic is shown below. As can be seen income in Sandton is clustered around the higher income groups, while for SOWETO it is clustered around the lower and no income groupings.
SOWETO
As mentioned in the introduction all data used in this article was obtained from Statistics South Africa
Data sources:
https://www.statssa.gov.za
Data sources:
https://www.statssa.gov.za