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HSRC Annual Report 2016/17
Inmoving towards a comprehensive understanding of the factors driving poverty and inequality in our country, towards a
solutions that will bring the National Development Plan to life, the HSRC in 2016/17 conducted research projects looking at:
•
The State of Informal Settlements, which aimed to understand conditions within such settlements and how they
are changing to assist with policy development around their upgrades;
•
Obstacles to Affordable Urban Housing, which aimed to assess regulatory barriers and other obstacles to the provision
of accessible, inexpensive accommodation;
•
Innovation in Public Employment Programmes, which aimed to understand the impact and effectiveness of such
programmes in reducing poverty and contributing to employment opportunities;
•
Dynamism in Rural Areas, which aimed to assess the social innovations in rural areas and how these can be translated
into solutions to respond to some of the common social challenges prevalent in South Africa;
•
Spatial Evidence for Planning, which aims to understand spatial trends and dynamics to improve sound policymaking
and planning. This includes population mobility and the implications for the provision of shelter for migrants;
•
An Evaluation of Citizen Engagement, which aimed to harness capacity to improve planning, implementation and
innovation to make cities more inclusive and liveable;
•
Citizen Frontline Service Delivery Project, which aimed to contribute to the improvement of service delivery through
fruitful and sustained citizen engagement while facilitating partnerships with the community to improve service
provision and maintenance; and
•
The Labour Market Intelligence Partnership (LMIP) and the Skills Supply and Demand in South Africa Report, which is
a long-term project aimed at analysing the skills needed to support inclusive economic growth and how education
and training institutions should respond to this demand.
We are also very pleased to have concluded the annual South African National Survey on Research and Experimental
Development and the inaugural South African National Survey of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer in Publicly
Funded Research Institutions, which will help us to understand the country’s research, development and innovation profile.
The Council has, in addition, continued with its routine large-scale surveys, including:
•
Preparations towards the fifth South African Behaviour Sero-Surveillance and Media (SABSSM V) Survey;
•
The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015; and
•
The South African Social Attitude Survey (SASAS).
We have begun new work on migrant labour and its impacts on our society. This work, still in its infancy, has already
revealed how deep the social effects of migrant labour lie in many parts of South Africa and the region. We have begun
to connect this work with older lines of research that are under way in the HSRC on the structure of households and
families. The fact that we have almost two-thirds of South African households, as revealed by our work here in the HSRC,
managing without father figures is a direct consequence of the legacy of migrant labour.
Our work aimed at understanding the impact of South Africa’s violent and fragmented past on the psyche of the nation
through the concept of Intergenerational Trauma is also noteworthy because of its effects on the individual, the family
and the community. We will be spending more time on understanding this phenomenon and on possible remedies
which can contribute to enhanced social cohesion and equity amongst citizens.
We are fortunate to have again received confirmatory feedback from the Auditor-General this past year. Our financial
health remained stable, with a positive cash position, and our Financial Statements again required nomaterial adjustments.
However, we are deeply disappointed to have moved from an unqualified, clean audit to an unqualified audit with
findings. This change in status can primarily be attributed to one event – the relocation of the Cape Town office. It
involved irregular expenditure due to challenges in our procurement processes. The Audit and Risk Committee (ARC),
through an independent review, however, verified that we did indeed obtain value for money. I am grateful to the various
governance structures, notably the ARC, for guiding us in this matter – we have learnt valuable lessons to ensure that
this remains an isolated event and does not become a trend.