Indigent household experience of Free basic services in rural settlements: A case of Molemole municipality in Limpopo province

Abstract

The implementation of social protection presents challenges and opportunities to municipalities in developing countries. A free basic service (FBS) is a form of social protection in South Africa. The area of free basic service that will be looked into will be refuse removal. The study used three types of indicators distinguished by The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. They are “Structural” indicators, “Outcome” indicators, and “Participatory” indicators. An analysis of the literature on the work done related to free basic services showed that there is a need for research to be conducted in this regard. The objective of this paper was to examine refuse removal as a free basic service to the indigent using indicators as distinguished by the office of the high commissioner for human rights. These are structural indicators, ‘’outcome’’ indicators, and ‘’participatory’’ indicators. A qualitative method was used in this study to examine free basic services. Data was collected from Integrated Development Plans (IDPs), observations made during visits to densely populated settlements, and unstructured interviews. The outcome shows that there is progress as far as Structural indicators are concerned. It also indicates that there are challenges in Outcome indicators and Participatory indicators.