Unlocking its smart potential

“Wits is a national treasure that occupies a special place in the hearts and minds of South Africans. It makes a disproportionate impact in society in multiple spheres. We will continue to use our intellectual prowess, social leadership and innovation to tackle the complex problems of the 21st Century – be it the climate emergency, inequality, pandemics, the future economy, or ensuring better healthcare for all for the next 100 years.” – Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Wits

Wits celebrates

YEARS of excellence

Wits celebrates 100 years of academic and research excellence, innovation and social leadership in 2022. Its roots are inextricably linked to the development of the City of Johannesburg, the mining industry and the advancement of the South African economy and society. It was granted full university status in March 1922 and was officially inaugurated on 4 October 1922.

Over the past 10 decades, Wits has developed the high-level and scarce skills required to move South Africa and our economy forward. “We have made spectacular discoveries, developed worldfirsts, nurtured generations of students, created new knowledge, and developed innovation with global impact,” adds Vilakazi. “But we are only successful thanks to the efforts of our committed staff, leaders, social partners, and with the support of our friends, alumni, donors and funders.”

Centenary Campaign

Wits has launched the Centenary Campaign, which aims to raise R3 billion to support teaching, research and innovation, infrastructure development, and students. The priorities are: driving digital transformation; ensuring better healthcare for all; solving climate and other global challenges; catalysing innovation and entrepreneurship; advancing society, governance and justice; future-proofing our national treasures; developing the next generation of leaders; and energising alumni support.

A series of events is being planned that will reach its climax in a Homecoming Weekend from 2 to 4 September 2022, closer to Wits’ official birthday. During this weekend, Wits’ galleries, museums, centres and campuses will be open to the people of Johannesburg. Alumni reunions, concerts, parades and sports tournaments are planned to take place throughout the year and will culminate in September 2022. Visit the Wits Centenary website for details at wits100.wits.ac.za.

Over 200 000 illustrious graduates

Over 200 000 illustrious graduates and many other Witsies have walked through Wits’ halls, inspired change, and left an indelible mark on society. These are the critical thinkers, creators, originators, discoverers, problem-posers and -solvers, and innovators who continue to influence all spheres of society. “These are Witsies who stand up and stand out – not for themselves, but for others – to secure our collective futures. These are the curious people who seek new knowledge, who ask questions, and who search for answers. They are the ones who stand up for social justice and pursue the truth. They have a passion for progress, empowering others and changing the world for the better,” elaborates Vilakazi.

Beyond 2022

There are three core areas that Wits will bolster as it transitions into the next century: developing excellent graduates who advance society, conducting worldclass research and fostering innovation, and using its location to lead from the Global South.

Join the #Wits100 journey

“Turning 100 is an extraordinary milestone for this great university, and I invite you to celebrate this momentous year with us. For over 100 years, we have walked – and we still walk – with purpose. Every step takes us forward as we create new knowledge, as we shape our city, country and the world for the next century, for good. Let us walk this journey together and continue to build Wits’ legacy for the next 100 years,” concludes Vilakazi.

The City of Johannesburg is working to become smarter – in how it engages with its stakeholders and, more importantly, in how it operates and makes plans in this new, tech-driven global environment. With so many moving parts, the City has identified and implemented a number of programmes to help it realise a smart future.

Unlocking its smart potential

Unlocking the potential embedded in developing cities will in part depend on municipalities tapping into the technological innovations at the heart of the unfolding Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). The City of Johannesburg has developed and is undertaking various plans and programmes to help realise the reality of a smart city.

Through the City’s Digital Joburg and Smart Governance programme, it seeks to establish a solid footprint of Joburg as a global city that operates on a 24/7 basis, and one that is at the forefront of digital transformation in South Africa and the African continent. A smart city is a convenient one. This means travelling long distances and having to stand in long queues for services should be phased out in Joburg through the digitalisation of most municipal services.

The City intends to deploy cuttingedge technologies such as AI, data analytics and others to solve service

delivery challenges without taking away existing jobs but, instead, freeing up employees from repetitive manual tasks to gain additional skills to equip them to function in a more technologyintensive environment. This programme will further enhance the governance processes of the City by making decision-making data easily available for decision-makers, oversight bodies and the community.

A key aspect of this is developing data management capabilities, and making it possible for communities in particular to have the means to interact and participate in governance processes through digital platforms, as well as through information being easily available through a range of communication platforms.

The City also seeks to increase access of government services to residents via e-government digital platforms and citizen portals that are zero-rated (data-free). In addition, a capability should be developed to make it easier to identify and verify the City’s customer base, and to know who the citizens and businesses, along with their requirements and usage patterns. Through automation, the City aims to speed up turnaround times for redundant services such as permits, registrations, deeds, patient records, book loans at libraries even after-hours, and other repetitive tasks. Developing local digital hubs and kiosks for citizens without access to their own digital resources to engage the City is also a priority.

Smart spaces

The Smart Integrated Nodal Economies, Services and Spaces programme seeks to promote the inclusive and equitable spatial development of Johannesburg and its economy. This programme includes mega spatial projects, as well as smart economy, smart tourism, smart nodes and beautification interventions in the city, including the inner city and CBD. Special focus is being placed on renewal areas that include Lenasia and Kliptown, the Lanseria Smart City, the expansion of the Braamfontein and Auckland Park digital corridor, and the revival of industrial hubs. The development of township economies through township economic hubs and special economic zones is a priority to accelerate inclusivity, equity and liveability across all segments of Johannesburg.

Promoting investment opportunities to the private sector and attracting donor funding will be central to making this programme a success. It will also require a radical rethink about the city’s spatial economy – in particular, how each region should be developed, what its contribution is in the overall development of the city, and analysing each region’s comparable

and competitive advantages to optimise GVA performance. This needs to be supported by a progressive and equitable funding approach that is based on a combination of basic needs and economic competitiveness. Through leadership by the public sector, the City seeks to encourage the private sector to invest in areas that are normally considered as having low potential for high returns on investment – such as townships – and thus contributing towards the economic development of marginalised areas. Municipal policies and budgets are also to be used to incentivise economic development in these previously neglected areas, and to empower youth, women and people with different abilities.

The redevelopment of areas such as Alexandra – and the development of other marginalised areas such as Diepsloot, Ivory Park, Zandspruit and the Deep South – will require imagination, leadership and bold decision-making. This is because these areas continue to represent the face of apartheid and, even more importantly, the growing inequality between the poor (who are mostly found in these areas) and the rich. These areas are also home to a large population living far from the inner city and facing greater unemployment and poverty simply because of their location.

Megaprojects like Lanseria, the redevelopment of Alexandra, and the development of economic nodes in the south (Soweto, as well as the LenasiaProtea Glen corridor, and extensions to the Randfontein and Kagiso corridors) and Deep South may serve as potential pilot projects for various smart technologies. This could include the deployment of 5G, as well as other technologies, and the creation of further digital hubs/special economic zones.

The City believes that mega tourism projects, including theme parks, should be investigated and developed, especially in large open areas found in the south or west of the city, as well as in the inner city, to develop new tourist attractions. Paris has the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and the ChampsÉlysées, while New York has Central Park and Time Square – all of these being developed over time to create iconic tourist sites. The City believes there is significant room to develop and package attractions beyond hotspots like Soweto and the Apartheid Museum.

The revitalisation of the Inner City and other CBDs on the other hand has already contributed to the positive sentiment about working, living and playing in the inner city and its extensions – e.g. areas east of the Carlton Centre into Maboneng. The development of the NewtownFordsburg-Braamfontein triangle could be given a major boost if the proposed railway decking project were freshly reviewed, which could result in another potential megaproject right on the south-western edge of the inner city. This could boost the development of the Braamfontein digital hub, provide a new area for the expansion of Wits University, and further strengthen the integration of the Newtown-Fordsburg-Braamfontein triangle, and its link with Auckland Park.

The City of Johannesburg intends to deploy cutting-edge technologies such as AI, data analytics and others to solve service delivery challenges without taking away existing jobs but, instead, freeing up employees from repetitive manual tasks to gain additional skills to equip them to function in a more technology-intensive environment

On the other hand, the growth of the digital economy, and the new opportunities opened by the ‘new normal’ have immense potential for the development of township economies. These opportunities should be mobilised and harnessed in favour of the youth, women and the differently abled. This could require the mobilisation of these targeted beneficiaries into massive digital or 4IR skills development, including the introduction of STEAM subjects in schools (supported by the City through it e-Learning Programme), and the expansion of job placement opportunities, including repurposing public employment programmes, youth service and skilling unemployed graduates.

The City seeks to facilitate the development of more liveable and economically vibrant townships and informal settlements by promoting and incentivising the development of high streets (such as those found in vibrant neighbourhoods like Greenside, Maboneng, Melville and others), with

SPOTLIGHT

Lanseria Smart City Project

During his 2020 State of the Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa outlined a new post-apartheid smart city in Lanseria that will become home to up to 500 000 people over the next decade. As the Lanseria Regional Spatial Development Policy prepared in 2017 makes clear, the Lanseria area represents one of the most significant regional development opportunities in Gauteng and provides an opportunity to create the first genuine post-apartheid urban node in South Africa at scale. This important development initiative lies within the jurisdiction of three municipalities, these being the City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane and Mogale City in Gauteng, and Madibeng Local Municipality in the North West province.

This initiative will require the collaboration of all three spheres of government as led by the Presidency, state-owned enterprises, development agencies and the private sector.

This must be achieved despite the recent history of coordination challenges driven largely by Lanseria’s position at the urban edge of three different municipalities, none of which are in a position to fund the necessary bulk infrastructure and institutional framework within the timeframes required. There are many development applications needed to collectively represent the building blocks for a new city node, underpinned by a range of economic development activities focused on the green and blue economy, tourism, agro-processing and logistics.

The process to develop the new Lanseria City node has required a range of coordination processes that include: • lnnovative financing that matches future flows of funds, which can be responsibly encumbered to collateralise the upfront cost of bulk sewerage, electricity, water, road and fibre networks. • An infrastructure master-planning process that can consolidate all the detailed technical planning work towards Lanseria as a city node done by various parties to date – including the various property developers with applications pending within the area defined for the new urban node, the four municipal governments within which the area of the proposed node falls, the Gauteng and North West provincial governments, and national agencies with transport infrastructure mandates. • An economic master-planning process to integrate all the potential economic development activities that will underpin the sustainability of the new city node. • A coordination mechanism that can phase the work required into a coordinating structure for the new city node, analogous to a city improvement district but on a larger scale.

Source: City of Johannesburg District Development Model – Metro One Plan

superfast and affordable broadband, the beautification of these areas, and by ensuring that there is reliable power and water supply, as well as broadband (including 5G). This will require the rethink of the use of urban redevelopment grants, and other incentives from national government in favour of such areas.

Smart mobility

Through its Smart Mobility programme, the City seeks to develop an effective, efficient and green public transport system throughout Johannesburg that is comparable to other major global cities. The goal is to drive the evolution of public transport to include hybrid and electric powered vehicles, low-emissions vehicles, cycling and walking corridors, and the integration of pre-existing modes of public transport such as Metrorail, the Rea Vaya BRT, Metrobus, and mini-bus taxi services. Technologies that enhance customer satisfaction include, among others: integrated modes and ticketing; smart, safe, clean and digital stations; and smart digital information boards and signage. There is also a need to build greater efficiencies, safety, reliability and cost-effectiveness into mobility networks.

Through its various smart city pillars and the corresponding catalytic programmes, the City of Johannesburg seeks to develop a strong foundation upon which the municipality and its residents can guarantee their 4IR future and live in a City that inspires them to live, work, stay, pray and play.

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