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URBANISATION AND SERVICE DELIVERY

The network of metropolises and large
cities from across the world once again
graced the shores of South Africa for CASE STUDY
their annual meeting in August this year.
The first such meeting was in 2013,
under the leadership of the former mayor
of Johannesburg, Parks Tau. This time CHALLENGES OF URBANISATION IN
around the annual Metropolis gathering
wrestled with how to build ‘inclusive THE GAUTENG CITY REGION
metropolitan cities and city-regions’.

One of the dominant mega-trends of the
st
21 century is the relentless tide of rapid Johannesburg, Tshwane and reality that more than 200 000 people
urbanisation. More than 50% of the Ekurhuleni are the spine of the move into the province every year.
world’s population live in cities. Already, Gauteng city-region, which represents This places enormous pressure
60% of South Africans live in cities. It the best promise and the worst on municipalities and provincial
is further projected that by 2050, some problems of urbanisation in Africa. government departments in terms of
90% of the world’s population will be The province is home to 24% of South service delivery and infrastructure
living in cities and urban areas. In reality, Africa’s population and contributes development, with particular reference
the very things that pull people to urban more than one-third to South Africa’s to education, healthcare and housing.
areas are the sources of the challenges GDP. Its three metros are major
that cities face. There are growing drivers of growth and employment in Although a lot of resources continue to
concerns over the extent to which our national economy. For instance, be invested in this areas and general
cities are inclusive in how they provide the City of Joburg contributes 15% infrastructure, the backlog remains
basic services and access to economic to national GDP, Tshwane 9% and huge due to rapid urbanisation. For
opportunities, including jobs. Ekurhuleni 7%. The city-region boasts instance, despite the fact that we have
world-class infrastructure, rich cultural built more than 1,2 million houses
diversity, a young population and (30% of the national housing stock)
At once heralding hope and prospects,
the many pressures that are brought vibrant informal trade. since 1994, the province still has a
to bear on cities also make them backlog of 1 million houses.
hotbeds of all manner of exclusions and However, the Gauteng city-region has
inequalities. While urbanisation offers its own great exclusions that are difficult As the most industrialised city-region
city residents the opportunity for a better to overcome. The legacy of apartheid in sub-Saharan Africa, Gauteng
life, many cities and city-regions have spatial planning, the economic has all the hallmarks of urban
become spaces that also feature violent marginalisation of black people and ecosystems in the developing world.
crime; urban poverty and hunger; lack the social exclusion of women and This requires significant investment
of security of tenure; acute inequality youth are some of the realities that in the maintenance of infrastructure
between the rich and poor; economic face city and regional governors daily and the initiation and development
marginalisation of the majority; spatial as we strive to construct a new post- of new mega infrastructure projects
exclusion and injustice on the basis of apartheid society. in housing, public transport, water,
race, gender, age, class, religion and energy, sanitation, broadband,
place of origin. The collapse of apartheid has industrial parks, schools and health
tripled the rate of urban migration. facilities.
More than anyone, leaders of sub- Gauteng has to contend with the
national governments at city and
regional level are faced with the stark
choice of building cities and city-regions
that are characterised by the evils of
fear, hatred, exclusion and inequality, or
finding ways of building cities and city-
regions that embrace inclusivity, equity
and diversity. The latter choice comes
with the responsibility of turning cities
and city-regions into hubs of inclusive
growth, sustainable development and
service delivery to all citizens.
The above-average rate of urbanisation
on the African continent makes the task
ahead even more daunting. Africa’s
population is expected to reach 2 billion
people by 2050; 70% will be below the
age of 30 and an overwhelming majority
will be living in cities. In sub-Saharan
Africa, the urban population grew by
more than 200 million, bringing the total

Volume 12 No. 1 of 2018 | SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW 11