The Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Minister Des van Rooyen and Deputy Minister Andries Nel attended the official launch of the 2016 State of the South African Cities Report (SOCR).
“The department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs welcomes the release of the 2016 SOCR and we believe that it will provide us with greater insights into how to build on our already successful cities”, said Minister van Rooyen.
The importance of the cities will also be a subject of discussion in October at the United Nations (UN) Habitat 3 conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, with the goal of determining the New Urban Agenda. Clearly cities and urbanisation are firmly on the world's agenda. The UN indicates that 54 percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas. This is expected to increase to 66 percent by 2050.
Deputy Minister Nel said that the report highlights the many achievements that have transformed our urban landscape from apartheid construction to democratic spaces in which all citizens are free to interact.
This vital report provides an independent assessment of the state of our cities. In many ways, it tells not only about the state of our cities, but also gives us pointers to the future of our country. The challenges our cities face, and the intervention we put in place to address these, will determine the future trajectory of our country’s growth.
“One of these measures is the Integrated Urban Development Framework (IUDF), approved by Cabinet two months ago. The IUDF reimagines our urban landscape and takes into account the unique nature of different cities and towns in an effort to capitalise on them”, said Minister van Rooyen.
Another key intervention is the Back to Basics programme, launched in 2014. This programme is already beginning to bear fruits and it continues to provide a sound basis for further economic development. This positive results are already evident and the Stats SA’s Non-Financial Census of Municipalities confirms this highlighting an increase in service delivery over the last year.
One of the primary findings of the report is the city’s role as drivers of growth and development. And how it is vital that we all work together. Cities drive the world’s economy.
Deputy Minister Nel indicated that the Global Cities 2030 study predicts that the City of Johannesburg will be the biggest city on the continent in 2030 in terms of GDP, contributing $196 billion, with the City of Cape Town placed fourth at $73 billion. Five of South Africa’s metropolitan areas were ranked among the world’s 300 largest. It is this context that we believe that our cities ignite growth through their policies and actions. Our metros growth rate is higher than that of the country generally and as government we have already taken steps to ensure that our cities improve their efficiencies to function optimally.
The report is also providing us with the much needed good news as it clearly shows that indeed our cities have made progress in the last 15 years of the democratic local government.
Minister van Rooyen also welcomed the launch of the SA Cities Open Data Almanac portal. This portal provides a rich pool of evidence that the South African Cities Network (SACN) has gathered over the last 15 years, all of which are available for download. It is also a “living” website that will be updated regularly.
We are happy that this report further enables us to reflect on the nature and type of urbanism we envisage as the country as we evaluate our cities and the role that they play in the overall development of our country. We fully subscribe to the Report’s vision of creating cities that are spatially transformed, productive, inclusive and sustainable.
As the Report highlights, for us to optimise the role of cities as drivers of economic growth and job creation, we have to pull together. We will further examine the Report and work with relevant stakeholders in ensuring that our cities do enhance their role as drivers of local and national development.
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