IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

African cities are growing at an incredible pace. With this growth comes a mix of opportunity and challenge. How do we build cities that are not only smart but also fair, inclusive and resilient?

A smart city uses digital tools such as sensors, data networks and connected devices to run services more efficiently and respond to problems in real time. From traffic and electricity to public safety and waste removal, smart technologies aim to make life smoother, greener and more connected.

Addressing the 2021 State of the Nation Address (Sona), President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed that his administration is conceptualizing a number of post-apartheid smart cities in provinces around the country.

Ramaphosa said that these infrastructure projects form a key part of the government’s Covid-19 recovery plan.

The City of Joburg has adopted Smart City as one of its priorities – from which several innovative projects and programmes have been implemented and are now part of the organisational processes. The City’s e-Joburg self-help website is a good example of how technology has changed the lives of residents who use it. With more than 300,000 registered users to date in less than three years since it was launched, the platform has transformed how residents interact with the city.

The e-Joburg platform allows residents to view their municipal statements, pay​​ accounts, and manage their accounts independently in the comfort of their homes, offices or wherever they find themselves.

“I want that smart city.”

That was premier Oscar Mabuyane’s message to finance minister Enoch Godongwana when he addressed senior provincial and national government officials at the Eastern Cape government’s year-end function hosted at the East London ICC on Wednesday night.

Mayors and municipal managers also attended the function.

The Smart City Dubai example offers South Africa how to improve efficiencies for both tourists and locals by reducing costs, red-tape via unnecessary paper work and wasted hours.

Earlier this year President Cyril Ramaphosa bore the brunt of a South African backlash after his State of the Nation Address when he announced it was time for South Africa to consider building a smart city.

The launch of FNB’s new online toll solution is helping to advance smart city mobility by streamlining toll road payments and reducing fraud. Traditional toll payment methods were inconvenient and vulnerable to abuse, but this innovative system enhances security, curbs fraud, and supports safer, more efficient travel for South African motorists.

FNB’s new online toll solution overcomes the vulnerabilities of traditional systems by processing EMV chip card payments — credit or debit cards with embedded microchips for added security — instantly through an online platform. This solution not only enhances security but also reduces fraud risk, as users retain possession of their cards or devices during the transaction.

The dream of the smart city has long been held up as the pinnacle of urban evolution. The promise of seamlessly connected infrastructure, real-time data analytics, and AI-driven efficiency has hovered on the horizon for decades, but almost as a mirage in the distance.

Now, the first signs of a functional smart city In South Africa are emerging in a form that few expected. Instead of government-planned utopias like the proposed Greater Lanseria Smart City, the real strides are being made at the level of basic municipal services, driven not by state-led mega-projects, but by independent technology initiatives.

Cyril Ramaphosa had a dream when he became president. His dream was to build brand-new cities — post-apartheid cities which would change the social and economic apartheid spatial architecture.

A year later, he solidified that dream and announced the Greater Lanseria Master Plan (GLMP). This would be the blueprint behind the Lanseria Smart City, which Ramaphosa said would be home to about 500 000 people within the next decade. Ultimately, more than 3.5 million people would live there.

In South Africa, major metros are investigating the potential that smart city automation technologies have for meeting the needs of an increasingly urbanised population writes Yuri Ramsamy, the product marketing specialist building products at ABB.

A city can be defined as ‘smart’ when investments in human and social capital and traditional transport and modern ICT communication infrastructure fuel boost sustainable economic development, quality of life and equitable management of natural resources.

The Department of Home Affairs’s Live Capture system will be closed for a period of five days.

As of 27 November 2015‚ 14h00‚ until 02 December 2015‚ identity documents and passport services will not be available as the 140 home affairs offices – which are equipped with Live Capture systems across the country – will be closed for business during this period.

Mkuseli Apleni‚ director general of home affairs‚ said that this should be seen in the context of the department’s drive to improve processes for Smart ID card and passport applications.

At a Parliamentary portfolio committee meeting last week, members asked when the smart card would become a reality. The department said announcements will be made soon since the current green ID book is not sufficient to match new technologies and transactions under the IT modernisation project.

Yet the rationale for the name change from the Department of Telecommunications, Posts and Broadcasting more than a decade ago in preparation for the 21st century has intensified. In fact, since then, the digitalisation and convergence of infrastructure, services, applications and content, and their governance, have increased the complexity and linkages between historically distinct broadcasting and telecommunications platforms. This has led to the modern communications system to be referred to as an information and communications technology or internet ecosystem — the overall health of the system being dependent on the wellbeing of various integrated components.

The Information and Communication Technologies road map aims to identify opportunities and support industries and in particular SMMEs

Small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs) will be the major beneficiaries of government’s ambitious ICT road map that seeks to digitise most public services.

The Department of Communications' decision that subsidised set-top boxes – needed for digital TV migration – must have return paths will put modems in five million homes, potentially expanding the Internet's reach to over 50% of South Africans.

As a result, at least 20 million more people will be able to plug in an Internet connection, opening up opportunities for entrepreneurs to target a new market, and expansion of e-government e-services.

Luphumzo Ntwanambi is small for his age. The 15-year-old, who is in Grade 9, sits nervously in his headmaster’s small office in Mvuso Junior Secondary School in the Eastern Cape. His clothes are neat, but show obvious signs of wear and tear: a white collar frayed around the neckline, a jersey whose warmth has been washed thin. But in this rural part of the province, few people are wealthy.

For most learners in the area, education is not a way to break the cycle of poverty. In the 2014 matric results, the Eastern Cape was the country’s worst-performing province, with fewer than two-thirds of matriculants passing. Poor marks, however, start in earlier grades. In the 2014 Annual National Assessments undertaken by the department of basic education, the average mark for mathematics among Grade 9 learners was 11.1%, for their home language (isiXhosa) it was 38%.

Gauteng’s allocation of R123m to help fund the gap needed for the new e-tolls dispensation could be in direct contravention with the Sanral Act, the anti-toll group said on Tuesday.

The act states that there could be no cross subsidisation between tolled and non-tolled funding and operations, according to Wayne Duvenage, chairperson of the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa).

"There's a misnomer that this [telemedicine] will overtake doctors. It will never overtake or replace a medical practitioner, a nurse; a physiotherapist. However, it will make them more accessible," Jill Fortuin, director of Telemedicine and mHealth at the Medical Research Council told News24.

Latest-generation enterprise technologies have the potential to improve financial and operational management within public sector entities, and enhance service delivery to citizens, write John Mokiti, business development manager: government and public services for South Africa at Wipro, and Gavin Holme, country manager: Africa at Wipro.

The 2012 Telecommunications Survey carried out by Landelahni Business Leaders was conducted using data from public institutions such as Stats SA, the Department of Labour and the World Economic Forum. It further included a sample of 18 South African companies.

"Information and communications technology is a pre-condition for socio-economic development and national competitiveness. However, a shortage of key skills is a huge constraint," says Sandra Burmeister, CEO of Landelahni Amrop