Smart Cities, Smarter Citizens: Harnessing Technology for Unparalleled Service Delivery

Future Cities Africa and the Municipal Edge present the 4th Annual "Local Government Conversations" Webinar Series 2025.

Join the Future Cities Africa Newsletter
Ask how you can collaborate with Future Cities Africa

The webinar on smart cities and digital transformation in municipalities highlighted innovative strategies and collaborative efforts to enhance service delivery and citizen engagement. Key stakeholders, including Cape Agulhas Municipality, the Western Cape Government, DPME, SALGA, Business Engineering and Ntiyiso Consulting Group, shared insights on building inclusive, data-driven, and resilient smart communities.

Thank you to our Series Gold sponsors:

• Ntiyiso Consulting Group
• Business Engineering

Key Takeaways:

Holistic Smart City Strategy (Cape Agulhas Municipality):

• Cape Agulhas implemented a smart city strategy since 2017, focusing on five areas: smart safety, infrastructure, economy, governance, and environment.
• The strategy emphasises a citizen-centric approach, aligning with municipal Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) and adopting a long-term (20+ years) vision.
• Key initiatives include IoT-based solutions for water conservation, air quality monitoring, noise sensors, CCTV with analytics, a municipal app for citizen engagement, and free Wi-Fi in low-income areas.
• Challenges include high staff turnover, cybersecurity risks, and managing data overload, mitigated through strong project management and stakeholder engagement.

ICT Governance as a Foundation (Western Cape Department of Local Government):

• ICT governance is critical for enabling digital transformation and smart city success, moving ICT from an operational to a strategic role.
• The Western Cape revised its ICT governance framework to streamline approvals, reducing council-approved policies to one strategic policy and delegating operational practices to municipal managers.
• Support includes maturity assessments targeting a 3.5/5 resilience level, shared services models, and a cybersecurity toolkit to address gaps and risks.
• Collaboration with SALGA, National Treasury, and other stakeholders is emphasised to build capacity and align with national frameworks like MSCOA.

Geospatial Intelligence for Planning (DPME):

• The Department of Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation (DPME) is institutionalising a geospatial information management strategy to empower municipalities with spatial data for planning, monitoring, and service delivery.
• Key tools include real-time municipal dashboards, spatial ward profiling for equitable budgeting, and integration of geospatial systems into IDPs and Spatial Development Frameworks (SDFs).
• Emphasis on addressing spatial inequalities, promoting digital literacy, and fostering partnerships with Stats SA, COGTA, and academia to ensure inclusive smart city initiatives.

Private Sector Role in Digital Transformation (Ntiyiso Consulting Group and Business Engineering):

• Ntiyiso Consulting advocates for end-to-end, citizen-driven solutions tailored to municipal needs, focusing on integrated planning, co-creation, and cost-effective technologies (e.g., Google Suite, Microsoft for cybersecurity).
• Business Engineering highlights the importance of digitising core business processes to enable smart city functionalities, noting varied progress across urban and rural municipalities.
• Both stress the need for sustainable funding, private sector collaboration, and addressing cybersecurity risks to ensure equitable access and service delivery.

SALGA's Support for Digital Maturity:

• SALGA's digital program focuses on positioning digital technologies to solve local government challenges and enhance value (e.g., reducing costs, improving citizen engagement, and fostering sustainability).
• Support includes governance frameworks, digital strategy alignment with IDPs, maturity assessments (digital, process, and data), and co-created solutions through a 'digital factory'.
• SALGA emphasises connectivity for underserved areas, training for councillors and officials, and innovation in emerging technologies to create data-driven, hyper-connected municipalities.

Addressing Inequalities and Ethical Considerations:

• Concerns were raised about the term 'smart cities' potentially excluding rural areas, suggesting 'smart communities' or 'smart municipalities' for inclusivity.
• Ethical considerations include equitable access, compliance with POPIA to protect citizen data, and preventing digital divides through deliberate policies treating connectivity as a public good.
• Socioeconomic benefits of smart initiatives include job creation and improved service delivery, but require addressing structural inequalities and investing in digital literacy to avoid creating privileged enclaves.

Collaboration and Leadership:

• Strong collaboration across national, provincial, and local government, private sector, and organizations like SALGA is essential for success.
• Leadership from municipal managers and mayors, rather than just ICT units, is critical to drive digital transformation and ensure alignment with strategic objectives.

Speakers Include:

• Moderator: Zolani SS Zonyane - Municipal Edge
• Kutlwano Chaba, Chief Digital Officer, SALGA
• Miyelani Holeni, Group Chief Advisor, Ntiyiso Consulting Group
• Stefanie Chetty, Chief Director Spatial Planning, Department of Planning Monitoring and Evaluation
• Philip de Bruin, Managing Director, Business Engineering
• Siyabonga Mngxe, Deputy Director: Municipal ICT Support, Department of Local Government, Western Cape Provincial Government
• De Wit Coetsee, Independent Contractor, Department of Local Government, Western Cape Provincial Government (WCPG)
• Willem van Zyl, Chief Information Officer, Cape Agulhas Municipality
• Dr. Lungelwa Kaywood, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Stellenbosch University

Join the Future Cities Africa Newsletter