cities

• The Gauteng City Region is clearly the country’s economic heartland, with Johannesburg,
Tshwane and Ekurhuleni accounting for a third (31.9%) of national economic activity (GVA),
while Cape Town (10.9%) and eThekwini (8.7%) are significant urban economic drivers.
• The four smaller cities are distant but still important regional hubs, contributing between 1.4%
and 2.4% of South Africa’s output.
• Since 1995, four cities have increased their share of South Africa’s GVA: Johannesburg (11.7%
to 13.9%), Cape Town (10.3% to 10.9%), Tshwane (8.9% to 9.2%) and Ekurhuleni (8.2% to
8.8%), but the shares of eThekwini and all the smaller metros declined.
• Particularly worrisome for the Eastern Cape region is the lacklustre performance and continued
slippage of Nelson Mandela Bay, whose share of South Africa’s total GVA declined from 3.3% in
1995 to 2.4% in 2013.
Figure 3.4 shows city growth in economic activity (GVA) since 1995. The impact of the global and
domestic recession from 2008 is very apparent, while lagging business confidence underlies the
sinking of growth performance between 2010 and 2013.
Figure 3.4: City growth in GVA (1995 to 2013)
220
200
GVA at constant 2005 prices index: 1995 = 100
180
160
140
120
100
80
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
JHB
ETH
EKU
MAN
MSU
CPT
TSH
NMB
BUFF
Source: Quantec Research (2015)
Note: The city and South African GVA time series are indexed to 100 in 1995 (that is set to a base value of 100
in 1995), so that the y-values on the graph show percentage change in GVA or GVA growth since 1995.
94 State of South African Cities Report 2016