Cities need strong leadership — Nene

Strong leadership in SA’s cities is important because just four metros are now contributing more than 50% of SA’s GDP, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene says.

Strong leadership in SA’s cities was important because just four metros were now contributing more than 50% of SA’s GDP, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene said on Monday.

The Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs recently said that 31% of the country’s municipalities were dysfunctional, while a further 31% were almost dysfunctional. Only 7% of municipalities were well functioning and 31% were reasonably functional.

The stability of four of the eight metros is shaky as they are being governed by tenuous coalition governments after the 2016 local government elections. The metros of Tshwane, Johannesburg, Nelson Mandela Bay and Cape Town alone are said to contribute more than 50% of the country’s GDP. Of these, Tshwane, Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela Bay are being run by coalitions, and Cape Town is beset by a ravaging drought and political turmoil in the DA-led council.

Addressing the Treasury’s executive leadership programme at the Gordon Institute of Business Science in Johannesburg, Nene said SA was still growing and cities and towns contributed more than 80% of SA’s national growth rates.

“So when we talk about pushing our economy up that hill, we need the cities to be in gear, with their foot on the accelerator pedal, otherwise we are not going anymore,” Nene said, adding that some cities — in spite of their great potential — were “teetering on the brink of collapse”.

He said: “Our cities cannot be allowed to fail.”

Public representatives had the responsibility to ensure they were accountable. “We need the kind of leadership in government that moves us beyond the brink of collapse,” Nene said.