“The brief for this study was to present and discuss post-1994 changes, marking the advent of democracy in South Africa, to the socio-economic position of households, to assess improvements in service delivery, political changes, and public perceptions on government performance and politics in South Africa in general. This paper proceeds as follows:It provides a brief outline of the research methods used, summarises the main political developments since 1994. It then benchmarks some of the major social development indicators, such as basic
services, housing, education, health and social welfare in 1994, explores the main socio-economic development programmes implemented by the post-1994 South African governments. It presents a number of public perceptions concerning social development and
political legitimacy and accountability.
Based on the evidence, it concludes with a brief discussion of the impact of
democratisation on development in South Africa.”
