Provision of Selected Public Services in the Black Townships of South Africa, 1980-1988

Regulations in the movement of blacks to prevent their urbanisation resulted in poorly planned townships lacking in sufficient services. During the eighties the urbanisation of the blacks in South Africa was accepted and the need for the orderly provision of services in townships arose. To ensure the provision of services in the townships it is necessary to establish the following: (1) spatial distribution of existing public services; (2) the extent to which townships lack in or are over-provided with public services; and (3) establish the threshold value of each of the selected public services as a guide for their future provision. To investigate the above the following services were selected: health; law enforcement; libraries; and postal services. The study concluded that despite positive attitudes towards the provision of services little improvement in such provision was made. Trends after 1988 towards the amalgamation of local authorities should ensure the future provision of public services.