Green, Resilient and Thriving: Blueprinting for a Southern African City of the Future
Future Cities Africa and the Municipal Edge present the 4th Annual "Local Government Conversations" Webinar Series 2025.
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Webinar Summary
Moderator: Mr Zolani Zonyane (The Municipal Edge)
Speakers:
Speakers:
- Ms Christa Venter - Manager: Waste & Environmental Management, Kouga Local Municipality
- Mr Dzingira Matenga - Managing Director, Ntiyiso Consulting Group
- Mr Daniel Nolte - Head of Capacitation & Development, Centre for Municipal Asset Management (CMAM)
The moderator highlighted the urgency of climate adaptation, aging infrastructure that cannot withstand current climate shocks, and the need for municipalities to become greener and more resilient.
2. Kouga Local Municipality - Practical Case Study (Christa Venter)
Kouga (Jeffreys Bay, St Francis Bay, Humansdorp, etc.; ~120 000 residents) is a small, tourism- and agriculture-dependent coastal municipality that has made climate action a core priority despite limited resources.
Key climate impacts experienced:
- Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, droughts (nearly reached Day Zero), sea-level rise, coastal erosion, dune encroachment (houses buried in sand in Oyster Bay), storm damage, biodiversity loss, increased fires, and animal/health risks.
- Waste management: 240 L wheelie bins for all households, e-waste & oil recycling drop-offs, vending machines that pay for recyclables, community recycling projects (e.g. J Bay Recycling - children earn 'moola' tokens), 7 % recycling rate (aiming higher via composting and biomass pellets from alien vegetation).
- Energy: LED street-light replacement, solar geysers and PV at municipal buildings, 160 kW solar project approved, partnerships with wind farms.
- Water conservation: Boreholes with solar pumps, rainwater-harvesting tanks (including donations to schools), leak-detection vehicle, pipeline replacements.
- Biodiversity & greening: Massive alien-invasive clearing programme (30-year horizon), urban tree planting (aiming for 100 000 trees), 'No-Mow September' for pollinators, dune rehabilitation, fire-break creation, eco-trails (e.g. Milkwood Trail).
- Community engagement: Environmental awards, beach clean-ups, EPWP/CWP for illegal-dumping clean-ups, partnerships with NGOs, wind farms, recyclers, and community groups (e.g. Dahon Drummers, In God's Hands).
Christa emphasised strong political support, low bureaucracy, cross-departmental collaboration, and an 'open-door' policy that makes partnerships easy.
3. ESG, Sustainability & Financing Perspectives (Dzingira Matenga - Ntiyiso Consulting)
- Framed sustainability via six levers: net-zero transitions, circular economy, technology adoption (cloud, e-government), sustainability measurement/analytics, leadership/capacity building, and consumer demand for green solutions.
- Drivers: executives expect disruption (mostly from green technologies), rising citizen expectations, and empirical evidence that digital/green solutions improve service delivery and reduce costs.
- Emerging opportunities: electric and e-bike fleets (pilots in townships), e-micro-mobility for last-mile delivery or chronic-medication distribution, cloud migration, smart buildings.
- Crucial message on funding:
- Huge pools of green capital are available and under-deployed (e.g. IFC/World Bank has US$25 bn waiting, every SA commercial bank has green-finance arms, DBSA renewable-energy fund).
- Green projects can be ring-fenced so municipal credit rating/performance does not block funding.
- Projects need to be sizable and well-packaged (business plans ready) to attract large-scale investment; small recycling initiatives are harder to fund at scale.
- Encouraged municipalities to 'hustle' - funders will listen because municipalities represent thousands of citizens.
- Waste management remains neglected; municipalities must cost it properly and recover costs from producers.
- Stormwater management is critical: more intense rainfall + increased impermeable surfaces = flooding and damage. Suggested widespread terracing/retaining walls (especially on communal land), virtual-reality modelling of storm-water impacts, and IDC financing for large-scale projects.
- Emphasised proper long-term spatial planning (SPLUMA, IDF alignment with district/national plans) and deep community involvement - 'talk to the old people with grey beards; they know where the water flows'.
Most critical strategic lever for resilient SA cities:
- Strong public-private-civil society partnerships (33 %)
- Embedding climate-risk assessment in all planning (24 %)
- Aligning IDP/SDF/budget with resilience goals (22 %)
- Money for green/resilient projects exists in abundance; the bottleneck is bankable, well-packaged projects and proactive outreach.
- Silos must be broken internally (budget flexibility between departments) and externally (national/provincial departments often lack capacity - municipalities end up carrying functions).
- Community participation and inclusivity ('leave no one behind') are non-negotiable - from planning to implementation.
- Small and rural municipalities can lead: Kouga proves that passion, political will, and pragmatic partnerships trump size.
- Risk management, proper urban/spatial planning, and genuine community knowledge must underpin everything.
