Johannesburg - The rise in the number of informal settlements across cities worldwide was due to insufficient planning and a lack of resources, said Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe.
The minister was opening the 7th Africities Summit on Sunday being held at the Sandton Convention Centre.
He called for closer collaboration among various levels of governments to ensure that people had access to houses.
“Our urban planning and management should help us create an urban form appropriate to the local context, expand basic services, target the urban poor and vulnerable groups, expand social and economic infrastructure and strengthen the connectivity between cities,” he said.
“In line with sustainable development goals for sustainable cities and communities, the UN guidelines for urban and territorial development were developed to provide a universal framework to guide urban policy reforms and raise the urban and territorial dimensions of the development agendas of national, regional and local governments.”
Radebe said the UN guidelines emphasised the importance of strong political will and appropriate partnerships to enforce sound and flexible urban planning and design, as well as a financial plan for affordability and cost effectiveness.
“In this regard, planning should be more than a technical tool; it should draw extensively on integrative and participatory decision-making processes that address competing interest.
“At the heart of the renewed urban governance paradigm, is local democracy, participation and inclusion, transparency and accountability, with a view to ensuring sustainable urbanisation and spatial quality.
“The important role that African local governments must play requires committed and capable leadership. We know too well that development cannot be attained unless various levels of government work together.”
He urged delegates to identify concrete ways to strengthen collaboration between all levels of the government.
Radebe also urged major cities to think about what they could do to assist those living in rural areas and smaller municipalities.
“Although the urbanisation levels are increasing, rural areas are still home to the majority of African people,” he said.
“These areas are usually characterised by high poverty levels, with little or no access to basic service and infrastructure that can support economic activities.
“Rural areas have a critical role to play in the national space economy. The sustainable development of our continent, therefore, is dependent on investing in rural infrastructure and strengthening the linkages between our rural and urban areas,” he said.
Radebe said sustainable urban development depended on sustainable rural development. It was a two-way process.
In 2012, South Africa had adopted the National Development Plan (NDP): Vision for 2030 compiled by the National Planning Commission, he said.
The NDP mapped out actions the country wanted to take to bring about development over the next 15 years.
The Star