It’s all systems go for the Africities Summit

17 September 2015

 

 

The countdown to the seventh edition of the Africities Summit – to be held at the Sandton Convention Centre – has begun.

The summit, which will bring together more than 5 000 delegates from across the continent and the African diaspora, will be held at Johannesburg’s most-preferred venue from November 29 to December 3, it was announced at The New Age Business Briefing on Wednesday September 16.

 

Johannesburg Executive Mayor Councillor Parks Tau, South African Local Government Association(SALGA) Chairperson and Mangaung Executive Mayor Councillorr Thabo Manyoni and Secretary-General of the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa Jean-Pierre Elong Mbassi urged all citizens to embrace the development blueprint to be adopted at the five-day lekgotla.

 

Mayor Tau pointed out that Johannesburg was already linking critical development programmes to the African Union’s Agenda 2063, which urges Africans to play an active role in ensuring a positive socioeconomic transformation of the continent. He said through a developmental approach, Johannesburg was empowering its residents and enhancing service delivery amid the pressure of urbanisation and impact of migration.

 

“How we deal with these will determine if Johannesburg is to become the city Agenda 2063 envisions, and this is not merely a challenge but also an opportunity,” he said.

 

“Johannesburg has an influx of 10 000 people every month. These people need to be integrated into the city. We believe that urbanisation comes with opportunities, and it is all about harnessing these opportunities. We want to capture the capabilities of young people to lead them to prosperity.”

 

Mayor Tau also encouraged cities to build their capacity to cope with numbers, and then build their tax base to help finance infrastructure projects.

 

“We have to stop capital moving away from our cities. We should enable people to move to cities,” he said.

Mbassi said African cities should empower communities through education.

 

“Unless people are capacitated to take part in their own governance, you can’t say you are liberated,” he said. “We need to move away from the culture of entitlement and take responsibility for our future. Africans will build Africa. Local government is the perfect platform to do this.”

 

With the continent’s population projected to hit the two-billion-mark in 2050 – about 1.3 billion of them in urban areas – African cities will be the most populated in the world.

 

“We will have the most young people in the world. At least 50% of our population will be under 19 and the labour force will triple. Local governments are under pressure to accommodate these young people,” said Mbassi.

 

“We must change our mindset – of our youth embarking on the perilous journey across the Mediterranean in search of a better life.”

Mayor Manyoni said while cities such as Johannesburg had to find solutions to cope with the influx of migrants, smaller municipalities must find ways to reinvent themselves to keep rural economies going.

“If you don’t build resilience in small towns, people will leave,” he said.

 

“It is important to develop the rural economy as well, and you need the help of central government to do so.”

Mbassi said citizens needed to be educated about the importance of sustainable cities.

 

“We need a paradigm shift, a change of mindset. Many of our young people are dying crossing the Mediterranean in search of a better life in Europe. But we see the Chinese, Turkish and Indians coming to Africa to harvest our endowments. We have to build confidence in our countries to persuade young people to stay and create wealth,” he said.