IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The City is looking for smart ways to detect, track and predict the spread of Covid- 19 while also looking for solutions to help the most vulnerable residents.

Digital, technological and smart innovation spaces have been among some of the more important services accessed by people across the world during the Covid-19 pandemic.

BWired, The City of Johannesburg and Ericsson South Africa have collaborated to form the Johannesburg Broadband Network Project (JBNP), a 1.2 Terabyte capacity foundation and the backbone established to support the realisation of the ‘Smart City’ concept.

The City of Johannesburg’s Department of Health and Social Development is moving swiftly towards providing sustainable service delivery and becoming a smart city with the rolling out of the new e-Health programme. It is a major technological advancement that allows the City to be part of new developments and to keep up with changes in the time of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This will accelerate the quality of primary care services delivered by the City.

According to Bheki Sibeko, the Director of Integrated Policy Planning & Research Unit, the new e-Health programme’s benefits will be endless for both residents and City employees working within the health space.

In its bid to create a smart city, Johannesburg has been hard at work for quite some time already, and its Public Access to Internet in Libraries (Pail) project has been up-and-running for years to empower Joburg’s poorer citizens.

Nobuntu Mpendulo, the director of library and information services, spoke about the initiative on the second day of the smart cities themed week of the GDS2040.

Instead, according to an article published on ITWeb on 18 Jan 2011[1], it has resulted in an excess of 65 000 known and reported incorrect statements/billing records where customer accounts have been grossly inflated - resulting in electricity and water cuts, despite the error occurring from COJ's side.

This process will make it easy for Metrobus to gather accurate data on commuters.

Metrobus announced that effective October 1, all services will transition to a cashless system.

This initiative marks a significant step in the digital transformation efforts to enhance the commuter experience and support Johannesburg’s vision of becoming a smart city.

The City of Johannesburg says it seeks to enhance the standard of living for each and every one of its citizens.

This will be done by deploying smart city infrastructure, such as CCTV cameras, interactive panic buttons, and electronic signage, to enhance road traffic enforcement, law and by-law enforcement, the detection, prevention, and investigation of crime, disaster mitigation, licensing-related services, and services relating to medical and fire emergencies.

The City is looking for smart ways to detect, track and predict the spread of Covid- 19 while also looking for solutions to help the most vulnerable residents.

Digital, technological and smart innovation spaces have been among some of the more important services accessed by people across the world during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mayor Tau said a project like PAIL would bridge the digital divide.

“One has been keen on the project like this one. Not only does it bridge the digital divide, but it also promotes access to information. The digital age is ensuring that the information is available by the click of the finger,” said Clr Tau.

Initiatives such as Health TV in clinics and using SMS and email to track patients with chronic diseases and HIV/Aids mean that the City’s health department is already serious about turning Joburg into a smarter and healthier city by 2040.

“There is a need for us to use innovative ways to solve health problems, so we must constantly keep abreast of technological innovations,” said Nonceba Molwele, the member of the mayoral committee for health and social services, at the third session of the GDS2040 Smart Cities Week.

Government has made some bold statements about how digital technologies will empower and enable South Africans, but what does a realistic picture for a digital government look like?

What does a digital future really look like? For government CIO Mandla Ngcobo, it all comes down to information. With digital technologies, governments have so many more ways to make smart, strategic decisions. This is where the real value lies for public servants and the average person on the street. For example, when government started brainstorming the idea to build the Gautrain, it first had to ask, 'Why are we doing this?'. And the answer was clear. After doing research, government realised that a large number of people travel between Johannesburg and Pretoria every day and that many of these middle-class professionals are regularly late for work because of bumper-to-bumper traffic. It was based on this data that government made the informed move to build the rapid commuter rail system. “For digital to be impactful, it must be guided by facts, by intelligence and by data,” Ngcobo says.

For Southern African Development Community (SADC) economic integration to be realised, the region will need to be transformed into an information and knowledge-based economy, Minister of Communications Ayanda Dlodlo said on Thursday.

The Minister was addressing delegates from 15 SADC countries who have been meeting in Durban since Monday to discuss the region's ICT infrastructure.

Jobs, service delivery and crime were issues brought forward by residents of eThekwini after the municipality announced that it was rolling out free wi-fi in the inner city.

The eThekwini Municipality has also started putting up boards alerting residents where the wi-fi spots are.

On Thursday morning, the municipality said that it had installed free wi-fi hotspots in Warwick Junction, Florida Road and the beachfront in keeping with plans to promote Durban as a smart city with access to the digital world.

The City manager promises that the app will be a faster, more efficient and transparent way of receiving complaints and or requests from citizens.

In a bid to achieve the ambition of being a smart city, eThekwini Municipality launched its brand new mobile app.

The municipality unveiled the new app yesterday afternoon, July 13, and City manager Musa Mbhele said the app will make life much easier for residents.

The City has launched a new mobile app that will, according to eThekwini Municipality, make life easier for residents.

City manager Musa Mbhele says the application was introduced as a preferred first point of contact for customers to enquire about any services rendered by eThekwini.

City Manager of eThekwini Municipality, Musa Mbhele, has outlined a bold new approach to boost service delivery that hinges on real-time accountability, regional management, and technology-driven innovation, while acknowledging systemic weaknesses that continue to frustrate residents.

Speaking during the 2025 Customer Services Symposium at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli ICC in Durban and in an exclusive follow-up interview this week, Mbhele said a combination of unannounced site visits, artificial intelligence tools, and decentralised management will form the backbone of the municipality’s renewed push for service excellence.

The eThekwini municipality has set itself a target of equipping one million young people with critical IT skills within the next three years.

This was the word from eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality executive mayor Mxolisi Kaunda, speaking at the State IT Agency’s (SITA’s) annual ICT conference GovTech 2023 this week.

The My Smart City service delivery platform has expanded to Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, after seeing a steady increase in the number of users who log their service delivery issues on the app.

Introduced bylocal software solutions company Acumen Softwarein July, the web and mobile app has garnered almost 22 000 active users on the platform, and grew by 11% month-on-month in January.

Developers of an R30 billion green smart city in outer west Durban say the first phase of construction is progressing well.

The 2 000 hectare project is called Westown, with officials saying it will be the most sustainable development in the country.

The first phase includes residential apartments, the retail high street of Westown Square and a hospital.

At least R3bn has been committed towards plans to developing the first phase of an integrated smart city in Ntshongweni, west of Durban, which is expected to come to life by the end of 2024.

This is according to Fundamentum Property Group CEO Carlos Correia, who was speaking during an oversight visit by Deputy President Paul Mashatile on Thursday.

Correia said this development came years after the purchase of a substantial portion of land through Tongaat Hulett.