A census report of orphaned and vulnerable
children in two South African communities
Sean Jooste, Azwifaneli Managa,
& Leickness C Simbayi
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Compiled by the Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS and Health Research Programme,
Human Sciences Research Council
Published by HSRC Press
Private Bag X9182, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa
www.hsrcpress.ac.za
© 2006 Human Sciences Research Council
First published 2006
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2.8 Data management and analysis 9
2.9 Ethical considerations 9
CHAPTER 3: RESULTS 11
3.1 Introduction 11
3.2 Kopanong Muncipality 11
3.2.1 Response rate 11
3.2.2 Person-level information 11
3.2.3 Household-level information 16
3.3 Kanana Township 19
3.3.1 Response rate 19
3.3.2 Person-level information 20
3.3.3 Household-level information 24
CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION 29
4.1 Introduction 29
4.2 Orphanhood and vulnerability rates 29
4.3 Household vulnerability index 29
4.4 Child-headed households 30
4.5 Limitations of the study 30
4.6 Recommendations 31
4.7 Conclusions 31
Appendix A 32
Appendix B 34
Appendix C 37
References 38
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iv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 Location of the Kopanong Local Municipality in the Free State Province in
South Africa 7

2003 11
Table 2 Age distribution of children (18 years and younger) in Kopanong
Municipality, OVC Census 2003 12
Table 3 Demographic characteristics of orphans in Kopanong Municipality, OVC
Census 2003 14
Table 4 Education level of household heads by sex and age in Kopanong
Municipality, OVC Census 2003 15
Table 5 Average monthly income of households in Kopanong Municipality, OVC
Census 2003 17
Table 6 Main indicators of vulnerability in Kopanong Municipality, OVC Census
2003 18
Table 7 Types of disability in Kopanong Municipality, OVC Census 2003 18
Table 8 Distribution of households on the vulnerability scale in Kopanong
Municipality, OVC Census 2003 19
Table 9 Response rate among households in Kanana Township, OVC Census
2004 20
Table 10 Age distribution of children (18 years and younger) in Kanana Township,
OVC Census 2004 21
Table 11 Demographic characteristics of orphans in Kanana Township, OVC Census
2004 22
Table 12 Education level of household heads by sex and age in Kanana Township,
OVC Census 2004 23
Table 13 Average monthly income of households in Kanana Township, OVC
Census 2004 26
Table 14 Main indicators of vulnerability in Kanana Township, OVC Census 2004 26
Table 15 Types of disability in Kanana Township, OVC Census 2004 27
Table 16 Distribution of households on the vulnerability scale in Kanana Township,
OVC Census 2004 27
LIST OF TABLES
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municipalities for agreeing to participate in this study.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) together with its partners within the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) region have been commissioned by
the WK Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) to develop and implement a five-year intervention
project on orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), as well as families and households
coping with an increased burden of care for affected children in Botswana, South Africa
and Zimbabwe.
There are currently no reliable statistics available about the numbers of OVC found
in any district of South Africa. This is also true for the two study sites of Kopanong
Municipality in Xariep District in the Free State Province and Kanana Township in the
Klerkdorp (KOSH) Municipality in the North West Province. Such information is required
by both the government and OVC-related agencies such (that is, non-government/faith-
based/community-based organisations working with OVC on the ground) for planning
their work. Furthermore, this type of information is useful as a baseline to determine the
impact of the work done by these organisations. It was for this reason the censuses of
OVC in the two areas were conducted during late 2003 and mid-2004.
The main aim of this research was to obtain a count of all the OVC in all eligible
households in each of the two sites, as well as information about their caretakers, the
number of other children being cared for, the nature of their accommodation and the
household economic situation. Thus, the ultimate aim of the study was to determine
exactly how many OVC there are in two sites and to obtain an OVC sampling frame for
conducting a baseline survey for OVC psycho-social survey in the two areas.
The entire population in all households among the previously disadvantaged communities
in the nine small towns in Kopanong Municipality and in Kanana Township served as
participants in the two censuses.
The results show that the OVC problem in the two sites studied is equally serious,
with about a third of households in both sites having a child who is orphaned. Basic
utilities were accessible in both Kopanong Municipality and Kanana Township, although

SADC Southern African Development Community
SAHA Social Apects of AIDS and Health Programme
SAMM Surveys, Analysis, Mapping and Modelling
SPSS Statistical Package for Social Sciences
UNAIDS The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS
UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund
WKKF WK Kellogg Foundation
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1

CHAPTER 1
Introduction
1.1 Background
During 2001 the WK Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) funded the Human Sciences Research
Council’s (HSRC) Social Aspects of AIDS and Health Programme (SAHA) to prepare a
policy document reviewing social and economic problems linked directly or indirectly to
the HIV/AIDS problem in Southern Africa. The brief for the work required that an analysis
of problems related to orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) be prepared, together
with recommendations on potential interventions in rural development programming.
The report (HSRC, 2002) was completed and submitted to WKKF who accepted it. WKKF
then asked the HSRC to produce a draft strategy for the care of OVC in Botswana, South
Africa and Zimbabwe, a task that was jointly undertaken by SAHA and the Child, Youth
and Family Development (CYFD) programme of the HSRC. This was accepted and led to
the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between WKKF and the HSRC
which required that the latter prepare an Operational Framework for Research-Driven
Interventions for Orphans and Vulnerable Children, including performance targets and
indicators. The framework was submitted to WKKF and also approved. The MOU also
required that the HSRC develop systems to implement and monitor the HIV/AIDS OVC
Operational Framework and provide research to support innovative and sustainable
models that target OVC as well as families and households coping with an increased

children with men who are older than themselves. UNAIDS has chosen not to try and
count or target paternal orphans because, in many parts of the developing world, fathers
are often only loosely connected to children and the households in which they live.
However, the figures indicate some of the dilemmas involved in targeting ‘orphans’ by the
UNAIDS definition.
Many more children than maternal orphans are vulnerable because they have lost their
main breadwinner, because their mother is sick and unable to care for them, or because
their family has taken in the children of kin who are sick or who have died as a result
of which the household resources have to be shared among many more people. Large
numbers of children in South Africa, between 10% and 20%, live most of their young lives
with close relatives, grandmothers and aunts, and would not be classified as orphans by
the UNAIDS definition if these surrogate mothers died. For this reason, it is preferable to
speak of ‘orphans and vulnerable children’ (OVC) or simply ‘children affected by AIDS’
(CABA) (Richter et al., 2004).
The latter definition includes all children who are affected by the widespread death and
social disarray that follows in the wake of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It is certainly not
acceptable to speak of ‘AIDS orphans’, as the term is likely to stigmatise children and
increase their already considerable difficulties. Children called AIDS orphans may also
be resented for being singled out for special assistance from programmes when so many
other children who live in poverty have the same needs as they do. It is very seldom
known for sure whether someone has died of AIDS because they usually have not been
tested for HIV infection, so it is generally not correct to call a child an AIDS orphan. In
any case, it makes no difference to the kind of support children need when they have
lost intimate caregivers and breadwinners, or what caused the death of their parents.
However, we do tend to know more about the numbers of orphans than the more
general categories of ‘orphans and vulnerable children’ or ‘children affected by AIDS’.
One of the major challenges for policy makers and programme developers is to estimate
the number of OVC. There are currently no reliable statistics available either nationally in
South Africa or at district level. As the definition of orphans in this project uses the cut-off
age of 18 years, this means that there are clearly more orphans than those determined by

AIDS has both direct and indirect effects on children. The direct effects result from
infection and illness of either or both the child and his or her caregivers. As stated above,
there are a substantially larger number of children who will suffer indirectly as a result
of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. These children are referred to as vulnerable children, or as
children in difficult circumstances.
There are currently no figures in South Africa for children living with infected parents.
For example, in Thailand for every child maternally orphaned by AIDS, 12 are living
with mothers with HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS, 1997). In addition, many children in Africa live
with relatives for varying lengths of time in fosterage arrangements. The illness or
death of such a foster parent may have as great an impact on a child as the death of a
natural parent.
These indirect cases of HIV/AIDS impact are mostly unreported (Foster & Williamson,
2000). Also, children whose families provide financially for relatives affected by AIDS,
or whose mothers take on or go to care for sick relatives may experience a reduced
quality of life. In addition, all children are affected when there are increased deaths in
their community, and when their close and extended family, community and societal
institutions and services are strained by the consequences of the AIDS epidemic.
In general, ‘the common impacts include deepening poverty, such as pressure to drop
out of school, food insecurity, reduced access to health services, deteriorating housing,
worsening material conditions, and loss of access to land and other productive assets.
Psycho-social distress is another impact on children and families, and it includes anxiety,
loss of parental love and nurture, depression, grief, and separation of siblings among
relatives to spread the economic burden of their care’ (Williamson, 2000, 3). Children may
also become more vulnerable to sexual exploitation.
The impact of the AIDS epidemic on children and families is incremental (Foster &
Williamson, 2000). Worst hit are communities that are already poor, with inadequate
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Census of OVC in two South African communities
4
infrastructure and limited access to basic services. For example, not taking into account

vulnerable children and households, over the long term.
The need by intervention agencies to have accurate, reliable, up to date statistics and
broad-based information in order to efficiently execute their work cannot be over-
emphasised. Population censuses are a principal means of collecting basic population
statistics as part of an integrated programme of data collection and compilation aimed
at providing a comprehensive source of statistical information for economic and social
development planning, for administrative purposes, for assessing conditions in human
settlements, for research and for commercial and other uses. The value of each census is
increased if the results can be used together with those from other investigations.
This OVC census was therefore conducted in order to document the extent of the
problem in the selected districts by conducting a house to house enumeration exercise.
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Chapter 1
5
It also locates households and communities with children in need of assistance without
biases or prejudices.
The use of census data as a base or benchmark for current statistics can furnish
information needed for conducting other statistical investigations. This was the secondary
aim of the census, that is, to provide a good basis for sampling frame for other scientific
studies. The statistics generated usually provide good estimates of prevalence and sample
size determination.
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7
©HSRC 2005
CHAPTER 2
Methodology
2.1 Introduction
In this chapter, a brief description of each study site and sample is presented. Details
regarding data collection and management research are also described. Finally, an

the level of poverty in the township is also high. The media has reported on township
residents who, on a daily basis, collect food and other things from a rubbish dump near
Kanana. Some of these people include small children. Community members describe the
level of crime as very high, with robbery being the most common crime. Poverty and
food shortages are key concerns affecting the target communities. Lack of food, lack of
means to buy basic clothing, paying of school fees, rent or visits to health facilities were
some of the difficulties mentioned. It is estimated that over half (55%) of the people of
working age are not gainfully employed (Skinner et al., 2004).
Figure 2 City Council of Klerksdorp
2

2.3 Study sample
The entire population found in all households among the previously disadvantaged
communities in the nine small towns in Kopanong Municipality and Kanana township in
KOSH Municipality served as participants in the census.
2.4 Community preparation
Before the survey was carried out, the research team and partners, namely, the Nelson
Mandela Children’s Fund (NMCF) spent about two months negotiating community entry
with local community structures and community-based organisations (CBOs) working
with OVC in the area. This was in order to get the community to buy into the project
by accepting its co-ownership with the HSRC and the NMCF. The local government
Census of OVC in two South African communities
2 Kanana Township is situated to the right of Orkney.
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Chapter 2
9
(Kopanong Municipality) as well as the Free State’s Provincial Departments of Social
Development, Education, Home Affairs and Health were also all involved in this process
to ensure long-term sustainability of the project after external funding is withdrawn at the
end of the project in December 2006.

2.9 Ethical considerations
Ethical approval for the entire study was obtained from the HSRC’s Ethics Committee. In
turn, informed consent was sought using an informed consent form (see Appendix C) and
obtained from every head of household by the enumerator before the census interview.
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1111
CHAPTER 3
Results
3.1 Introduction
In this chapter the findings are presented of the OVC census held in Kopanong and
Kanana. Information is provided separately for both areas. In the first section results are
presented on the person level, thereafter household level information is provided.
3.2 Kopanong Muncipality
3.2.1 Response rate
Table 1 shows the response rate of households during the OVC census held in Kopanong
Municipality in November 2003. The majority of households (97%) agreed to participate in
the census.
Table 1: Response rate among households in Kaponong Municipality, OVC Census 2003
Activity Frequency (n) Percent (%)
Completed 5 188 98.6
Incomplete 37 0.7
Refusal 6 0.1
No one present 18 0.3
Abandoned 5 0.0
Total 5 254 100
3.2.2 Person-level information
The total population in the 5 225 households that agreed to participate in the census was
21 515. The breakdown of the information gathered about the household members is
provided below.

10.2%
24.1%
10.4%
0 to 5
6 to 14
15 to 18
19+
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Chapter 3
13
Figure 4: Comparison of people in different age groups (years) and sex in Kopanong Municipality,
OVC Census 2003
3.2.2.3 Household heads
The majority of the household heads were female (53%). The ages ranged from 14 to
99 years with a mean age of 50.8 years. Only 34 households were child-headed (see
Figure 5). Slightly over half (2 598) of household heads were over 50 years of age. One
thousand and eighty six of household heads (14%) were 65 years or older.
Figure 5: Age profile of household heads in Kopanong Municipality, OVC Census 2003
Percent
0
10
60
20
30
40
50
70
14 to 18 19 to 24 25 to 49 50+
Age groups
1% 1%

Age groups
female
male
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Census of OVC in two South African communities
14
14

3.2.2.4 Prevalence of orphanhood
In the present survey information children aged 18 and younger had to provide
information about their orphanhood status. We wanted to know whether their mother
and father were still alive and whether or not their parents have permanently deserted
them. Almost a third (34%) of all children was maternal, paternal, or double orphans. Six
percent had lost a mother, and more than three times as many (19%) had lost a father,
while 8.3% had lost both parents (see Table 3). The rate of orphanhood did not vary
by the sex of the child. It did however increase with age; the rate of orphanhood was
highest in the 15 to 18 year age group.
Table 3: Demographic characteristics of orphans in Kopanong Municipality, OVC Census 2003
Gender Total
(n)
Lost both
parents
(%)
Lost
father
(%)
Lost
mother
(%)
Both

3.7%
20.3%
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Chapter 3
15
3.2.2.6 Education
School attendance was very high with 92% of children aged 6 to 18 years attending
school. There was no variation in school attendance by sex or orphanhood status of child.
The main reason given for children not attending school was financial difficulties (58%).
Almost half (49%) the children aged 6 to 18 years have completed their primary school
level of education.
When examining the education level of household heads, the data showed significant
differences between males and females concerning school attendance. More females
(28.4%) had never attended school as compared to 23.6% of males (see Table 4). A high
proportion of both male (38%) and female (40%) household heads aged 50 and older had
no schooling.
Table 4: Education level of household heads by sex and age in Kopanong Municipality, OVC
Census 2003
Females n Pre-
school
%
Primary
%
Secondary
%
High
school
%
Tertiary
%

Only a fifth (22%) of households had a water source within their homes (see Figure 8).
The overwhelming majority of households (87%) had access to water on their premises
(see Figure 9).
Figure 8: Main water sources in Kopanong Municipality, OVC Census 2003
16
Percent
0
10
60
20
30
40
50
70
Both parents
alive
Lost mother Lost father Total
Orphan status
41.1
58.9
36.2
63.8
50.7
49.3
49.2 50.8
43.4
56.6
Lost both
parents
No

3 001 thru 5 000 84 1.8
5 001 thru highest 48 1.0
Total 4 654 100
17
On premises
Less than 500m
500m to 1km
1%
12%
87%
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