Clearly, comrades and friends, South Africa, as is the case with much of Africa, is experiencing massive migration from rural to urban areas. We cannot leave our towns and cities to manage this process on their own. We need a concerted and co-operative effort from all three spheres of government, civil society stakeholders and the public to manage urban development effectively.
Trends in most developing countries, experts tell us, suggest that urbanisation generates significant opportunities for growth, poverty reduction and environmental sustainability. Generally, large urban settlements make a disproportionate contribution to productivity, growth and job creation. Cities have the potential to be economically dynamic through the spatial concentration of productive activity, entrepreneurs, workers and consumers.
However, urban growth is also associated with growing levels of inequality and environmental damage. These trends are evident in our cities, where inequality is most obvious. Our towns and cities, regrettably, are inequitable and inefficient, most obviously in their spatial form. With urbanisation processes predicted to continue, the slow economic growth, inadequate infrastructure, limited employment opportunities, weak governance and increasing instances of social conflict suggest that South Africa is increasingly experiencing the downside pressures of urbanisation. We have yet to capture the substantial benefits that other countries have reaped - not least developing countries - from their towns and cities.
Most experts suggest that there is a correlation between economic development and urbanisation. The wealthier a country becomes on a per capita basis, the higher the rates of urbanisation are likely to be and vice versa. When a country approaches being 40% to 50% urban, and we of course are 63% urban, it is said it makes a transition from being low or lower-middle income to upper-middle income. If this transition is managed through the alignment of economic and social development and spatial policies, a country could benefit enormously.
We must be clear, though, that rural development remains a key priority of this government. It was one of the five pillars of the ANC's 2009 Election Manifesto and we will have to report on this as we go to the electorate for the 2014 elections. It's precisely because of our concern about rural development that we need to give greater attention to urban development.
Urban development is often misconstrued as an alternative to rural development. However, successful towns and cities are key to rural transformation. Strong urban economic growth and effective urban poverty reduction generate public resources that fund rural development programmes. Many urban households are intimately connected to rural areas, remitting financial support and making long-term investments in rural areas. Familial and cultural ties, as most of you know better than me, between people in rural and urban areas run deep for most South Africans. It is not easy any more to clearly define the boundaries between urban and rural areas.
Agriculture contributes, regrettably, 3% to the gross domestic product, GDP, with very limited jobs. If our rural programmes succeed and we double our output, we are still likely to see agriculture contribute only 6% to GDP. We can't effectively address poverty through a rural-focused strategy alone, as important as this is. We have to get our urban economies to perform much better to benefit rural areas, too.
Urban and rural areas are connected through flows of nature, people, and economic resources. Urban areas depend on food production, the provision of recreational areas and ecological services found in the rural areas. However, rural areas also depend on urban areas for inputs into agriculture such as machinery, equipment, and fertilisers. Urban areas, in turn, are the most important markets for agricultural products, and the quality of the connective infrastructure such as roads, information and communications technology, ICT, postal services, railways and waterways determines the growth potential of agricultural producers. If rural areas are mismanaged or underinvested in, unequal development will progressively undermine the viability of both the urban and rural areas.
Ultimately, a failure to facilitate equitable forms of urban growth can severely undermine the efficacy of both rural development and vice versa. Given the interdependencies between these two spaces, failure to facilitate sustainable rural development will put enormous pressure on urban systems as more people are pushed into urban spaces.
Global evidence suggests that a failure to adequately manage urban growth will not slow urbanisation over the long run, but rather undermine both urban and rural development outcomes.
The links between urban and rural development were captured by the President in his state of the nation address in February 2013:
While rural development remains a priority of government, it is crucial that we also develop a national integrated urban development framework to assist municipalities to effectively manage rapid urbanisation. As part of implementing the National Development Plan, all three spheres of government need to manage the new wave of urbanisation in ways that also contribute to rural development.
Urbanisation and the growing informality of our urban settlements present increasing pressures on the natural environment. These include issues of sufficient clean water, adequate and hygienic sanitation, organised urban waste management and recycling, the impact of transport, and air and water pollution. There are risks for both the environmental health of citizens and the degradation of vulnerable ecosystems. Matters of risk reduction in terms of climate change and managing the consequences of changing weather patterns also need more active intervention by municipalities. An urban development policy has to include this as one of its major aims.
We have made significant gains since 1994 in service delivery and development, but we have not succeeded in reversing apartheid spatial patterns. For a variety of reasons, not least the pressure to provide housing and services fast, most of our infrastructure investments have served to reinforce the apartheid status quo in spatial terms, effectively making it harder, in 2013, to reverse apartheid geographies than it was in 1994.
South African cities have some of the lowest urban densities in the world combined with a highly fragmented spatial form. They are inefficient from a resource consumption point of view because of peripheral settlement sprawl, vehicle-based mobility and gated residential developments for the middle classes versus township areas on the periphery, both of which require long commuting times.
Spatial transformation is key to building inclusive, sustainable and productive cities. The NDP points to the need for a structured national conversation on the future of our towns and cities, a national spatial development framework, a spatial fund, the negotiation of spatial compacts at all levels, and revised norms for spatial development. Our work on urban development seeks to take this further within the framework of the National Development Plan.
Various departments and agencies at national and provincial level have important policy and regulatory functions which impact on urban development, but they don't exercise them in a co-ordinated manner. Municipalities also have significant powers and functions on urban development issues, and the state-owned entities, SOEs, often take decisions on urban infrastructure which impact significantly on urban areas without consulting municipalities.
There is clearly a need for greater co-ordination in managing urban development. The government has for some while been aware of this. In fact, in 1995 an Urban Development Strategy was drafted and in 1997 the Urban Development Framework was adopted. In 2003 the government developed a National Spatial Development Perspective which was updated in 2006. Unfortunately, none of this was implemented properly. But the need to develop a consensual national integrated urban policy continued to hover and, in 2009, the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Cogta, in co-operation with the Presidency Cities Network and the SA Local Government Association, Salga, drafted the National Urban Development Framework. It was submitted to Cabinet in 2009, but Cabinet decided to give it back to Cogta to feed into the National Development Plan.
With the adoption of the NDP, the issue of an Integrated Urban Development Framework, IUDF, is back on the agenda, under Minister Baloyi's leadership. The Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission's Strategic Integrated Projects have also put integrated urban development back on the agenda, as has the World Urban Forum in 2012 last year, which I tried to cajole and goad the Minister to go to, but I ended up going to Italy to the lovely city of Naples. One thing I have learned there is that the World Urban Forum wants all countries, not least Africa, to have urban development precisely for rural areas.
In fact, the 2009 report, Chief Whip, says that urbanisation, done right, can help development more in Africa than elsewhere. So, this idea that rural and urban are counterposed is a fallacy that we need to address stridently. It is a challenge within our own party, and the Minister and I are working on dealing with that. So, I am addressing you, Chief Whip, partly because of that.
Also, let me say that, with the Brics chairpersonship by South Africa this year, urbanisation and friendly cities now fall squarely under Minister Baloyi's responsibility. That, again, is an emphasis on why ... [Interjections.] ... Oh, my G*d. I have very little time left. That's an atheist appealing to God!
Essentially, the aims of the Integrated Urban Development Framework, IUDF, are the implementation of the NDP to provide a national framework for municipalities to manage the rapid urbanisation; the co-operation of government departments within the national and provincial spheres, and between them and local government in managing rapid urbanisation better as part of a more integrated co-operative governance system that Minister Baloyi referred to earlier; mobilising stakeholders in civil society and the public to play an active role in managing urbanisation effectively; enhancing economic growth and job creation through the identification of the necessary economic levers that contribute to developmental outcomes, including improved capabilities of citizens; more reliable liveable areas and a more productive economy.
I will go on to say that currently we have an Integrated Political Forum, IPF, comprising the Deputy Ministers of Cogta, Human Settlements and Transport, the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs, of Rural Development and Land Reform and of Finance, Salga and the South African Cities Network chairpersons. The Deputy Ministers report to their respective Ministers under the leadership of Minister Baloyi.
A panel of experts, led by Prof Edgar Pieterse and Dr Vuyokazi Mahlati, is about to finalise a draft discussion document within the next two weeks on the IUDF. Once it has been processed by Minister Baloyi and his colleagues in the same portfolio, the aim is to take it to the public domain, with the hope of taking it to Cabinet later this year as part of implementing the integrated development policy.
The IUDF, it must be stressed, aims to be concrete and of practical value and it will take into account already existing programmes and projects directed at managing urban development better. Yes, we understand the capacity challenges; that will be taken account of.
Public participation is crucial in shaping and implementing the Integrated Urban Development Framework. As with much else, we just cannot succeed without public participation. This input today sounds perhaps very impressive, but I have drawn a lot on technical experts. It was the easiest speech to prepare, Minister. I just took whole chunks and reworked it into my own words. These are the ideas of technical experts; it may be more amenable, therefore, for the DA and other parties to accept it.
This input today is the initial foray, as brief as it is. We want this IUDF to go into the public domain. You as Parliament have a key role to play in taking this forward. We look forward to engaging with you more concertedly on the IUDF in the near future and your active participation in making it a living reality.
Let's work together to get things done. Thank you. [Applause.]