It’s time to implement policies, ‘Africities 7’ delegates told

04 December 2015

 

The curtain came down on the seventh edition of the Africities Summit at the Sandton Convention Centre on Thursday December 3 with a call for a united Africa that should work together to deliver integrated and people-centred services to its citizens.

 

“African unity was concretised at the 7th Africities Summit in Johannesburg. Now we can be effective in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” United Cities and Local Government of Africa (UCLG Africa) President Khalifa Sall said at the end of the five-day gathering.

“Through Agenda 2063, SDGs and COP21, our actions going forward must take the needs of our people into account by shaping the future with them,” he said.

Sall, African Union Commission Chairwoman Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Pravin Gordhan all thanked Johannesburg Executive Mayor Councillor Parks Tau and his team for hosting a “very successful summit”. They also commended the delegates for their show of unity and urged them to start implementing policies to deliver integrated, decentralised and sustainable development programmes to improve the lives of the continent’s people.

In her closing remarks, Dlamini-Zuma said African unity was in line with calls made by the founders of the Organisation for African Unity and Pan Africanists, who stressed that without unity Africa would perish.

“Local government is at the coalface of changing our citizens’ lives. Agenda 2063 is how we will get Africa to be prosperous, integrated and peaceful. But this should be driven by the citizen, because without women and youth at the centre of development in cities and rural areas, Agenda 2063 will not be successful.” She also urged mayors and ministers to start implementing policies.

“We are not doing enough to accelerate the development of Africa. Local government must be empowered and supported to do more. Let’s do this faster and better to achieve the objectives of Agenda 2063.”

Minister Gordhan said the summit had mapped out the way forward for local governments to embrace Agenda 2063.

“We are moving into a new phase in which we will promote inclusive growth and better prospects for our people,” he said.

He also reiterated the importance of involving communities through dialogue and the decentralisation of resources to municipalities. He called on the UCLG-A leadership to push for more collaborations, relevant partnerships, transparency and accountability.

“You have your work cut out to transform Africa. You have demonstrated unity in action. Let’s continue building trust, confidence and unity in purpose. Less talking and more doing,” he said.

UCLG-A Secretary-General Jean-Pierre Mbassi said local authorities faced “a huge task” ahead to deliver on their mandates.

“But Africa is determined to write its own history under new leadership. The Africa we want will be the Africa we love,” he said.

The 8th Africities Summit will be held in Brazzaville in the Congo Republic in 2018.