By Michael Sutcliffe and Sue Bannister
In his Opening of Parliament speech, President Cyril Ramaphosa argued that as an immediate priority, we will bring stability to governance in our metros and restore the delivery of services.
He reflected on what needs to be done in eThekwini. Then he argued that we will extend the same approach to other metropolitan cities that face serious challenges so that our cities can be engines of growth and dynamic centres of opportunity. The intention is to turn our country into a construction site.
These are important and correct statements as throughout the world, the largest urban areas are the engines of growth. In some countries, there is only one city that dominates, while in South Africa we have more than 20 major and intermediate metropolitan areas.
Of course, the largest is the conurbation in Gauteng where it is often difficult to see where Johannesburg ends and Ekurhuleni or Tshwane begins. And if these areas get sick, their provinces and the rest of the country suffer.
