cities

The established routines need to change in order to give effect to the vision of transformed cities
articulated in the IUDF. It will require visible, credible and collective leadership across urban
communities (government, business and civil society). This leadership, whether from government,
political parties, business or citizens, needs a clear and common understanding of the future South
African city and what each must contribute. Until this leadership is created, South African cities will
continue to be held back by short-term partisan politics and capture by elites.
In addition to being visionary, South African cities of the future will require robust anticipatory
capabilities. “Anticipatory governance” refers to a systems-based approach for enabling governance to
cope with accelerating, complex forms of change (Fuerth 2012: 4). It implies a “system of systems”
approach in which there are three key, mutually reinforcing elements:
1. a disciplined foresight–policy linkage (to embed a long-term perspective in policy and action);
2. networked management and budgeting practices that are linked to a mission statement; and
3. feedback systems to enable continual monitoring and adjustment, so as facilitate system learning.
On a fundamental level, well-governed cities must “get the basics right.” As such, it will be essential
that cities continue to deliver and maintain critical infrastructure and services that enable social and
economic development, and that they do so equitably and sustainably. In moving city governance
from form and process to substance, the real challenge will be to institutionalise new practices so that
they become the daily routines and norms of city governance.
Recommendations
Realistic long-term plans must be aligned, coordinated and communicated widely, through the local
press and linked to public reporting processes that build trust and legitimacy with communities. This
will require cities improving their administrative, technical and economic capacity to coordinate
implementation by building coalitions with local experts, higher-education institutions and
communities. By actively engaging relevant communities, cities can ensure that planning processes
are not captured by politicians, coalitions and other interests, and that development strategies favour
the poor and excluded. This can be achieved through mechanisms such as citizen juries (randomly
selected community members who make decisions based on information presented) that are less
vulnerable to manipulation than ward committees.
Cities need to be pragmatic in promoting city interests and, at the same time, clarify roles,
responsibilities and delegations, and ensure that intergovernmental partnerships support the
autonomy of cities. Cities must set the example by declaring responsibilities, reporting regularly and
having consequences for non-performance. This applies to the monitoring and evaluation of individual
and city performance and the need to monitor spatial transformation differently and over long periods
of time. Unless consequences and incentives are clear and actioned, any performance management is
simply box ticking. To ensure that developmental mandates are met, a simple first step would be to
234 State of South African Cities Report 2016