MAM1014F and MAM1022F

Quantitative Literacy for Humanities and Numbers in the Humanities

MAM1013F
Quantitative Literacy for Law
Assessment 1
2023

Total marks: 50
Time: 1 hour 30 minutes and 10 minutes reading time

_______________________________________________________________________________

Instructions
1. This question paper consists of three questions and six printed pages. Please make sure that
you have all the pages.

2. Use your calculator, ruler, pens and pencils. You may not share these items during the test.

3. Use blue or black ink for written answers. You may use a pencil for diagrams.

4. Reading time is for interpreting the text, tables and charts, and the relationship between these
different representations. Reading time is not for answering the questions that follow the
extract. During reading time you may write on your question paper, for example, underline,
highlight, circle, draw linking arrows etc. You may not write in your answer book or use
your calculator during reading time.

5. Hand in both your answer book and your question paper when you leave. Always check with
an invigilator whether you may leave the venue on completion of your test.

6. PLEASE WRITE YOUR LECTURERS NAME ON THE FRONT COVER OF

YOUR ANSWER BOOKLET
Question 1 [17 marks]

2022 Budget Speech

In February 2022, in his Budget Speech, with regards to spending proposals, the finance
minister said, that over the next three years, the government will allocate R3.33 trillion to
the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) to support vulnerable and low-income households.
The Department of Social Development, which is within the DSW, will receive the largest
allocation of R586 billion which will be distributed to grants such as the child support grant,
social grants, and disability grants. South Africa now pays grants to 46% of the population.
The minister also mentioned that Compensation spending will increase marginally, from
R665.1 billion in 2021/22 to R702 billion in 2024/25, at an average annual rate of 1.8%.
(a) Write down the number 665.1 billion in

(i) full (1)

(ii) scientific notation (1)

(b) What proportion of the allocated budget to the DSW will go to the (2)
Department of Social Development?

(c) “Compensation spending will increase marginally, from R665.1 billion

in 2021/22 to R702 billion in 2024/25, at an average annual rate of
1.8%.”
(i) What is the growth factor associated with a percentage increase of (1)
1.8%?

(ii) How much more is the compensation spending in 2024/25 than in (2)
2021/22?

(iii) Calculate the overall percentage increase in the expected compensation (2)
spending from 2021/22 to 2024/25?

iv) How many times as big as the compensation spending in 2021/22 is the (2)
compensation spending in 2024/25?

(v) Using the growth factor, and the compensation funding in 2021/2022 (2)
confirm that the compensation spending will be R702 billion in
2024/25.

(d) If 28 million people were receiving grants in South Africa in 2022, (2)
calculate the population of South Africa in 2022. Round your answer
off to one decimal place.

(e) The minimum amount that people can live off in a month (excluding (2)
things such as housing, luxuries etc.) is R1417. Given that 28 million
people receive grants, is the government providing adequate funding for
its citizens?
Source:https://www.statista.com/statistics/1127838/national-poverty-line-in-south-
africa/ [17]
Question 2 [18 marks]

Consumers are paying more for basic items in 2023 as the household food basket hits
R4 917

The following excerpt has been adapted from:

https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/economy/consumers-are-paying-more-for-basic-items-
in-2023-as-the-household-food-basket-hits-r4-917-50b83abb-0897-44a4-921e-937174c1a53c

According to the Household Affordability Index for January 2023, the average cost of the
household food basket is R4 917.42 per month. It should be noted that in December 2022 the
food basket was calculated to be R4 853.18. If you compare it to January 2022, consumers
were paying 11.7% more in January 2023.

From January 2022 to January 2023, there was a 5% increase in the price of sugar, which cost
R34 in 2022, and a 3% decrease in the price of bread which cost R18.50 in 2023. The price of
bananas decreased from R24.99/kg in 2022 to R17.49/kg in 2023.

The Cape Town basket increased by 3.6% from January 2022 to May 2022, by 4.8% from
May 2022 to December 2022, and by 2.9% from December 2022 to January 2023. The
Durban basket increased by 11.3% from January 2022 to January 2023.

(a) Calculate the average cost of a food basket in January 2022. (2)

(b) Compare the average cost of a food basket in December 2022 to January
2023 in both absolute and relative terms (use two decimal places).
(i) Absolute terms (1)
(ii) Relative terms (1)

(c) What was the price of sugar in January 2023? (2)

(d) What was the price of bread in January 2022? (2)

(e) What was the percentage change in the price of bananas from 2022 to (2)
2023?

(f) Calculate the price increase of a basket of food in Cape Town from (2)
January 2022 to January 2023.
 Table 2.1. Prices of household items in 2022 and 2023
Food item Price 2022 Price 2023
Apples R26.99 R32.99
Chocolate R15.50 R18.00
Milk R14.50 R19.99
Washing Power R125.00 R130.00

(g) Which product has shown the largest absolute increase in price from 2022 (1)
to 2023?

(h) Without doing any calculations, explain which product has shown the (2)
largest relative increase in price from 2022 to 2023.

(i) (i) Suppose that the monthly increase you found in b(i) above were applied (2)
annually (in other words, from January 2022 to January 2023). What
would the annual price increase have been?

(ii) Now use compare your answer in (i) above with the actual price increase (1)
to justify the heading of the article.

[18]

Question 3 [15 marks]

The following has been extracted from the South African Child Gauge 2021/22: Demography of
South Africa’s children.

http://www.ci.uct.ac.za/sites/default/files/image_tool/images/367/Child_Gauge/2022/CC%20-
%20demography.pdf

An orphan is defined as a child under the age of 18 years whose mother, father or both biological
parents have died. The total number of orphans is the sum of maternal, paternal and double
orphans.

In 2020, there were 2.9 million orphans in South Africa. This includes children without a living
biological mother, father or both parents and is equivalent to 14% of all children in South Africa. The
majority (61%) of all orphans in South Africa are paternal orphans (with living mothers).

The total number of orphans increased by over a million between 2002 and 2009. , By 2017, orphan
numbers had fallen to below 2002 levels. This was largely the result of improved access to
antiretrovirals. Since 2018, the number of orphaned children has increased by 230,000
KwaZulu-Natal has the largest child population and the highest orphan numbers, with 673,000
children (16% of children in that province) recorded as orphans who have lost a mother, a father or
both parents. Orphaning rates in the Eastern Cape (20%) are even higher, although the number of
children orphaned is lower (500,000 because the child population is smaller). In 2020, Gauteng
emerged as the province with the second highest and quickest growing orphaning numbers, where
13% of children (566,000) were single or double orphans. North West also appears to have
experienced an increase in orphaning rates over the past three years, in particular maternal and
double orphaning. The lowest orphaning rates are in the Western Cape (9% of children) and
Limpopo (11%).
(a) Use only the information in the text to find the total number of children in South (2)
Africa in 2020.

(b) Use only the information in the text to find the number of paternal orphans in (2)
South Africa in 2020. Round your answer to the nearest hundred thousand.

(c) According to the text, the number of orphans has increased by 230,000 between (2)
2018 and 2020. What was the percentage increase?

(d) Refer to Figure 1b and explain in full the meaning of the percentage 8.6% in (2)
context.

(e) Compare the order of magnitude of the number of orphans in 2020 who have both (1)
their parents dead to the number of children in 2020 who have both parents alive.

(f) Explain in full in context the meaning of the two numbers inside the circle. (2)

(g) How does Figure 1c support the opening sentence of the paragraph above it? (2)

(h) Between KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape, which province is experiencing a greater (2)
challenge with respect to orphans? Give one reason to support your answer and
another reason to oppose your answer.
[15]