cities

devolve properly the relevant powers away from provincial and national spheres to cities, and to trust
cities to take the lead in urban planning, pulling in other levels of government as and when required.
Cities should mobilise civil society and strengthen local participation in order to push transformation.
If the ward committee system is to continue, the effectiveness of ward committees should be
addressed by, for example, changing their constitution to include all local interests, which will minimise
political capture and lead to negotiated agreements on priorities and outcomes. At the same time,
cities need to galvanise communities, the youth and other interests in the fight against corruption.
Cities could, for example, develop an anti-corruption smartphone app that encourages reporting,
implement strong anti-corruption and oversight measures, and establish dynamic stakeholder and
government alliances to ensure that special interests do not capture the city.
Whereas these recommendations speak primarily to city-level enhancements, it is also important they
be seen within the context of the broader systemic recommendations made by the IUDF to strengthen
intergovernmental alignment in urban policy, planning, budgeting and implementation. That cities
need to play a leading role in the governance and development of their spaces is not to mean that
they can go it alone. The rest of the system, as emphasised in the IUDF, must pull in the same direction
if effective urban governance is to be achieved.
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