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Cities of Africa must work together to resolve challenges that face us all

Lebogang Maile
By Lebogang Maile
13 Sep 2022
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We need to work together to come up with integrated economic development strategies that are linked to increased intra-African trade at a city region level.

As we unite within the regional space of government to pursue the African Union’s Agenda 2063, we need to come up with a collective vision of the African cities of the future and develop a smart-city concept that is in line with the agenda, looking at common challenges across the continent.

These include rapid urbanisation and the management of rural-urban linkages that are respectful of natural ecosystems and biodiversity protection. This is critical because one of the unique challenges of rapid urbanisation within the city regions of the continent is that it is not necessarily linked to industrialisation and structural transformation of local economies.

On 8 and 9 September 2022, we had the privilege of representing the Gauteng Provincial Government at the inaugural Forum of Regions of Africa (Foraf) in the city of Saidia which is in Oujda, part of Casablanca state in Morocco. Southern Africa, East Africa, West Africa, Central Africa and North Africa were all represented.

The forum is organised by the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa) and was themed “The contribution of regional governments to the sustainable development and to the dynamics of integration of Africa.”

The forum’s aim is to build a people-centred framework for the development of Africa, in line with Agenda 2063, working collectively within the regional sphere of government with various societal stakeholders to bring about a more people-centric — as opposed to state-centric — Africa in pursuance of Agenda 2063.

Over 80 leaders of states, regions, provinces and counties met for the first time at this forum to look at how city regions (provinces in our context) which are a middle tier of governance between national and local government, can contribute towards the attainment of the aims and objectives of Agenda 2063. This is in line with the city region approach to development that we have adopted within the Gauteng City Region, even as we respect the boundaries that are in place between the three spheres of government in South Africa.

The forum’s approach is to look at development in a people-driven manner, focusing on the human development index, with African citizens being positioned as the key resource behind the drive for a “united, strong, sovereign, independent and self-reliant continent”.

We need to work together to come up with integrated economic development strategies that are linked to increased intra-African trade at a city region level, with the aim of catalysing manufacturing within various localities, looking at comparative advantage. Achieving this common vision would enable us as African city regions to become more globally competitive and of course capture greater segments of global value chains within various economic sectors, given how rich the continent is in natural resources.



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In order to address infrastructure challenges that are a common denominator across all African city regions, and which become an impediment to increased economic integration and trade within our city regions, we must align our development planning, working with local and Pan African development finance institutions to create funding solutions that will help address critical infrastructure gaps that become a bottleneck to local economic development.

So there is much scope for us to work together on issues such as urban planning to deal with common challenges such as urban sprawl, spatial transformation, and the phenomenon of growing informality within African city regions as rapid urbanisation and in-migration create socioeconomic problems.

This kind of unified approach to planning and development for catalytic economic infrastructure geared at developing solid trade routes will open up new markets for local goods and enhance trade between our city regions. It will also help to address some of the immigration challenges we have been faced with, particularly in South Africa, as people will not need to leave their localities en masse in pursuit of better opportunities and a better life if there are visible signs of progress and development within their localities.

We must work together to ensure that infrastructure is being built, upgraded, replaced, transformed, and redesigned in order to suit current city region requirements and realities, taking into account the effects of migration and rapid urbanisation on our infrastructure as well as changing trends and demographics.

Our city regions are also increasingly vulnerable to climate change and disaster which has a devastating impact on local communities, and this is another area of common interest for us as we pursue Agenda 2063, “the Africa we want”. Spatial transformation to deal with the colonial legacy within African city regions — where you find highly developed, well-maintained spaces that are right next to underdeveloped, densely populated spaces where most of the local African population are located — is another common area that we should focus on as we pursue Agenda 2063. We must develop institutions and systems that will enable local empowerment and co-creation within and between our city regions.

Within our own Gauteng City Region, we must find ways of working together within the various spheres of government, in a non-partisan and patriotic manner, even as we have to deal with the phenomenon of coalition arrangements at a local government level, to ensure that we implement the District Development Model’s (DDM) plans for each region within our city region.

At a broader continental level, Foraf must connect the city regions of Africa so that we do indeed achieve Agenda 2063 and bring about the Africa we want.

The words of Chief Albert Luthuli, the former president of the African National Congress, in accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in 1961, are profoundly germane in this regard:

“Let me invite Africa to cast her eyes beyond the past and to some extent the present, with their woes and tribulations, trials and failures, and some successes, and see herself an emerging continent, bursting to freedom through the shell of centuries of serfdom. This is Africa’s age — the dawn of her fulfilment, yes, the moment when she must grapple with destiny to reach the summits of sublimity, saying: ours was a fight for noble values and worthy ends.” DM

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