A baseline study on families in Mpumalanga

Although forces of modernisation such as industrialisation and urbanization have brought about major changes to the social structure, the family remains a key social unit in South Africa (Amoateng & Richter, 2003). Studies (e.g. South African Institute of Race Relations (2011), Amoateng et al. 2004) have established that there are different types of families in the country and these include, among others, extended families, nuclear families, single-parents with children and re-constituted families that include step-parents and step-children. Other unconventional family forms such as child-free couples and the increasing tendency to live in non-biological family households are also emerging in society (Amoateng, Richter, Makiwane & Rama, 2004). Despite the array of family patterns and the well-established literature pointing to the important role of families in socio-economic development, the extent of their prevalence has not been recorded in South Africa. Currently, the South African family is impacted upon by a number of social factors which include traditionalism, modernity, and post-modernism. In addition, urban-rural migration and more recently, the AIDS pandemic have impacted greatly on the South African family. It is against this background that the Department of Social Development invited the services of the Human Science Research Council to analyse the situation of Mpumalanga families.