The arrival of a new mayor in Buffalo City is always an auspicious and exciting occasion, especially after a period of stagnation, corruption and poor service delivery. There is now an opportunity to bring new ideas to the management of the city and possibly positive change.
The impact leaders can make on cities should never be underestimated. Just think of what Rudi Giuliani did for New York in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
Or what “Red” Ken Livingstone did in London in the 2000s, focusing on improving public transport, bolstering public involvement in the decision making processes at city hall and removing many of the privileges enjoyed by councillors.
Or Brazil’s visionary Jaime Lerner, who transformed Curitiba – a city about the size of East London and faced with very similar challenges – into what is now regarded as “numero um” – one of the best places to live in South America.
His team’s “Sustainable Master Plan” prioritised environmentalism, poverty, and growth.
So what can the new mayor do in Buffalo City in 2015?
Who should he see when he takes office? What should he emphasise for action and what might he do to build an economically and culturally vibrant city?
The people of the city are tired of smash and grab “rogue” urbanism of the previous mayor and her team, and want the city to begin to recover a sense of civic pride, the completely lost sense of ambition and spirit of improvement and city building.
I do not mean this in the sense of returning to the city of the “golden years” of white East London because that city has gone. I mean a progressive and forward looking African city vision that can deliver an attractive and vibrant city, which is orderly, efficient, frugal and prosperous. We need a growing and productive city economy as well as lifestyle and cultural appeal.
Within the next 20 years, over 85% of the global economy will be concentrated in the world’s top 100 cities. Africa and South Africa is urbanising very rapidly and they are part of this global trend.
The two or three main cities in the Eastern Cape hold the key to the future economic success of the province – without their success there can be no economic future or revival.
So, to the mayor I would suggest, be careful of those bureaucrats and politicians who say the Eastern Cape is really a rural province and that rural development is the big key to the future success of the city and the region. They are misguided.
Looking at Buffalo City, there are many problems. They range from a flagging urban infrastructure to pot-holed and closed roads, polluted rivers and coastline, its weakening industrial economy, as well as poor service delivery, jobless growth and urban sprawl.
But the point to keep at the forefront of your mind is that cities are built by middle classes.
This has always been the case. Think of the great renaissance city states of Italy like Florence or Venice. They are essentially commercial, industrial and business entities, which rely on capital investment for survival and growth.
City building, as you already know, is, in the end, a local business – so you have to think, behave and most of all “see like a mayor” and not like a provincial party hack.
While the urban poor and marginalised need your attention, it will be the extent to which you can galvanise the disinterested urban middle class – both black and white – to become partners and re-engage as city builders in Buffalo City that will, in the end, determine the success of your term.
To build a city you must know how to talk convincingly to capital, as well as engage with the talented creatives, including artists and cultural innovators.
Civil servants currently form the largest portion of the urban middle class in Buffalo City and they must become city builders, not just consumers. The question they need to confront is: what role will they play in city building? How can they become leaders and champions of urban development in BCM?
Most importantly, you have to convince the urban middle class that you have a vision and a programme to lead and benefit them, and you need to persuade them to become civic and development activists, not just spectators.
A perturbing trend has been an effort by new middle class elements to try to remove themselves from the city by setting up non-serviced, suburban houses on tribal trust land outside the city limits.
This avoids paying rates.
This is now evident in numerous places in the Eastern Cape, including Mthatha and Butterworth.
As mayor, you need to put your foot down here. You cannot allow an urban middle class that wants to eat at the table of the city, but refuses to contribute to its development. Those who want the village should go and live there. Those who want a decent, progressive city must roll up their sleeves and make a contribution.
A complacent middle class that likes to eat, drink and party, and then conveniently turns its back on city building and civic responsibility will spell disaster.
Work hard to eradicate the anti-developmental ethos of cultural “double-rootedness” in the middle class, which is usually an excuse for doing nothing for the city.
And be suspicious of those who talk about the villages and tradition and think the city will develop itself.
Also, remember that greatness will not come by working with criminals and charlatans, you need to build a team of competent and skilled men and women who can lead and build this city in a new way.
Unfortunately you have had few role models to choose from in recent years. This is why the DA looks set to win many urban seats and even take entire metros in the next election. Urban citizens in South Africa want successful growing cities and are fed-up with half-baked, Nkandla-style small-is-beautiful rural development plans and policies.
Draw inspiration from outstanding black urbanists and city leaders. Celebrate them. In your city talk about great local leaders like Dr Walter Rubusana, the author, educationalist and civic and political activist from East Bank, who should have been the first ANC president in 1912. Invoke the famous unionist Clements Kadalie, who led the urban black working class in the city from the 1930s to the 1950s, fighting for improved working and living conditions. Mention the influential RH Godlo, an ANC leader and committed city builder from East London in the 1940s and 1950s.
These were men of vision and integrity, let’s learn to know them and see them represented in the city streets.
In the 1950s, Godlo led black urbanists from all around South Africa in a struggle against urban apartheid planning, not through street protests and toyi-toyi, but by reasoned counter arguments to white power and segregation.
He led a national alliance of well-educated black urban administrators and planners who were gradually diminished, excluded and finally silenced by Hendrik Verwoerd.
Think also of inspirational women like Cecilia Makiwane and others of her ilk, as well as the many urban civic activists, nurses and community workers, who were committed to building this city.
Make more effort to get the black and white middle class in the city to work together. This will be a challenge, but it is necessary. It will mean engaging less in party politics and more in civil activism.
Do not shy away from the opportunities of devolving the power of city hall to citizens, and embrace the new way of DIY urbanism by encouraging people to do things for themselves and then support them. It is their city, after all.
A winning formulae requires finding a common vision and identity for the city, which have been sorely lacking for at least four decades. What is Buffalo City really?
I would not ignore the great power of the Mercedes Benz brand and the success of that plant in marketing an image of excellence and global competitiveness for the city.
You should do everything in your power to hold onto the auto-giant, and expand their footprint in the city. Re-industrialisation is critical to sustainable urban growth and the auto-sector remains the main catalyst for this.
You might also pay very careful attention to the city’s flagging educational institutions and work closely with them to make sure the city generates the talent and human capital to create wealth and drive economic development.
Work to stop the outflow of talented youth away from the city by giving them good reason to stay on.
It is also no good having one of two or three competitive schools, while leaving the rest to rot. You must make it your business to ensure there are a dozen or so academically excellent schools in places like Mdantsane, Duncan Village and King William’s Town.
Encourage multi-lingualism.
You should work closely with the universities and transform them into partners and city builders. You have three universities and two large hospitals in your city – which is a blessing, and their staff and students want to engage with the city. Don’t alienate them, engage them. Look at how other cities around the world are working with “Eds” and “Meds” for inclusive growth and a better future.
There is something else you might want to explore, the feeling of Buffalo City as the “home-coming city” for the regional black middle class. The great success of the December home-coming festival and the attraction and charisma of ebuhlanti is built on this idea, but the city has done very little to formalise and develop this brand.
Bringing the Xhosa middle class “home” to East London is already stimulating strong demand for holiday and residential property in the city, but you could do so much more.
But new opportunities should definitely not replace older city assets and strengths. International tourism is a massive industry in South Africa and your city has enormous potential to claim a larger share of that market, as a niched destination. Reinvest in the beaches and natural beauty of the green city.
The modern East London economy was always built on tourism and industry, not one or the other. It is the combination of lifestyle, tourism, sport and industry that offers the most potent and appealing mix for the city.
You face many problems and challenges, but engaging the hands-on involvement of the middle class – both black and white – will help reduce corruption, promote efficiency and create new growth, which will in turn address the larger problems of unemployment, poverty and exclusion.
Let me wish you the best of luck for your term. To become a smart city, Buffalo City needs smart and committed leadership.
Leslie Bank is director and professor of the Fort Hare Institute of Social and Economic Research
Making a city ‘number one’
The arrival of a new mayor in Buffalo City is always an auspicious and exciting occasion, especially after a period of stagnation, corruption and poor service delivery. There is now an opportunity to bring new ideas to the management of the city and possibly positive change.
The impact leaders can make on cities should never be underestimated. Just think of what Rudi Giuliani did for New York in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
Or what “Red” Ken Livingstone did in London in the 2000s, focusing on improving public transport, bolstering public involvement in the decision making processes at city hall and removing many of the privileges enjoyed by councillors.
Or Brazil’s visionary Jaime Lerner, who transformed Curitiba – a city about the size of East London and faced with very similar challenges – into what is now regarded as “numero um” – one of the best places to live in South America.
His team’s “Sustainable Master Plan” prioritised environmentalism, poverty, and growth.
So what can the new mayor do in Buffalo City in 2015?
Who should he see when he takes office? What should he emphasise for action and what might he do to build an economically and culturally vibrant city?
The people of the city are tired of smash and grab “rogue” urbanism of the previous mayor and her team, and want the city to begin to recover a sense of civic pride, the completely lost sense of ambition and spirit of improvement and city building.
I do not mean this in the sense of returning to the city of the “golden years” of white East London because that city has gone. I mean a progressive and forward looking African city vision that can deliver an attractive and vibrant city, which is orderly, efficient, frugal and prosperous. We need a growing and productive city economy as well as lifestyle and cultural appeal.
Within the next 20 years, over 85% of the global economy will be concentrated in the world’s top 100 cities. Africa and South Africa is urbanising very rapidly and they are part of this global trend.
The two or three main cities in the Eastern Cape hold the key to the future economic success of the province – without their success there can be no economic future or revival.
So, to the mayor I would suggest, be careful of those bureaucrats and politicians who say the Eastern Cape is really a rural province and that rural development is the big key to the future success of the city and the region. They are misguided.
Looking at Buffalo City, there are many problems. They range from a flagging urban infrastructure to pot-holed and closed roads, polluted rivers and coastline, its weakening industrial economy, as well as poor service delivery, jobless growth and urban sprawl.
But the point to keep at the forefront of your mind is that cities are built by middle classes.
This has always been the case. Think of the great renaissance city states of Italy like Florence or Venice. They are essentially commercial, industrial and business entities, which rely on capital investment for survival and growth.
City building, as you already know, is, in the end, a local business – so you have to think, behave and most of all “see like a mayor” and not like a provincial party hack.
While the urban poor and marginalised need your attention, it will be the extent to which you can galvanise the disinterested urban middle class – both black and white – to become partners and re-engage as city builders in Buffalo City that will, in the end, determine the success of your term.
To build a city you must know how to talk convincingly to capital, as well as engage with the talented creatives, including artists and cultural innovators.
Civil servants currently form the largest portion of the urban middle class in Buffalo City and they must become city builders, not just consumers. The question they need to confront is: what role will they play in city building? How can they become leaders and champions of urban development in BCM?
Most importantly, you have to convince the urban middle class that you have a vision and a programme to lead and benefit them, and you need to persuade them to become civic and development activists, not just spectators.
A perturbing trend has been an effort by new middle class elements to try to remove themselves from the city by setting up non-serviced, suburban houses on tribal trust land outside the city limits.
This avoids paying rates.
This is now evident in numerous places in the Eastern Cape, including Mthatha and Butterworth.
As mayor, you need to put your foot down here. You cannot allow an urban middle class that wants to eat at the table of the city, but refuses to contribute to its development. Those who want the village should go and live there. Those who want a decent, progressive city must roll up their sleeves and make a contribution.
A complacent middle class that likes to eat, drink and party, and then conveniently turns its back on city building and civic responsibility will spell disaster.
Work hard to eradicate the anti-developmental ethos of cultural “double-rootedness” in the middle class, which is usually an excuse for doing nothing for the city.
And be suspicious of those who talk about the villages and tradition and think the city will develop itself.
Also, remember that greatness will not come by working with criminals and charlatans, you need to build a team of competent and skilled men and women who can lead and build this city in a new way.
Unfortunately you have had few role models to choose from in recent years. This is why the DA looks set to win many urban seats and even take entire metros in the next election. Urban citizens in South Africa want successful growing cities and are fed-up with half-baked, Nkandla-style small-is-beautiful rural development plans and policies.
Draw inspiration from outstanding black urbanists and city leaders. Celebrate them. In your city talk about great local leaders like Dr Walter Rubusana, the author, educationalist and civic and political activist from East Bank, who should have been the first ANC president in 1912. Invoke the famous unionist Clements Kadalie, who led the urban black working class in the city from the 1930s to the 1950s, fighting for improved working and living conditions. Mention the influential RH Godlo, an ANC leader and committed city builder from East London in the 1940s and 1950s.
These were men of vision and integrity, let’s learn to know them and see them represented in the city streets.
In the 1950s, Godlo led black urbanists from all around South Africa in a struggle against urban apartheid planning, not through street protests and toyi-toyi, but by reasoned counter arguments to white power and segregation.
He led a national alliance of well-educated black urban administrators and planners who were gradually diminished, excluded and finally silenced by Hendrik Verwoerd.
Think also of inspirational women like Cecilia Makiwane and others of her ilk, as well as the many urban civic activists, nurses and community workers, who were committed to building this city.
Make more effort to get the black and white middle class in the city to work together. This will be a challenge, but it is necessary. It will mean engaging less in party politics and more in civil activism.
Do not shy away from the opportunities of devolving the power of city hall to citizens, and embrace the new way of DIY urbanism by encouraging people to do things for themselves and then support them. It is their city, after all.
A winning formulae requires finding a common vision and identity for the city, which have been sorely lacking for at least four decades. What is Buffalo City really?
I would not ignore the great power of the Mercedes Benz brand and the success of that plant in marketing an image of excellence and global competitiveness for the city.
You should do everything in your power to hold onto the auto-giant, and expand their footprint in the city. Re-industrialisation is critical to sustainable urban growth and the auto-sector remains the main catalyst for this.
You might also pay very careful attention to the city’s flagging educational institutions and work closely with them to make sure the city generates the talent and human capital to create wealth and drive economic development.
Work to stop the outflow of talented youth away from the city by giving them good reason to stay on.
It is also no good having one of two or three competitive schools, while leaving the rest to rot. You must make it your business to ensure there are a dozen or so academically excellent schools in places like Mdantsane, Duncan Village and King William’s Town.
Encourage multi-lingualism.
You should work closely with the universities and transform them into partners and city builders. You have three universities and two large hospitals in your city – which is a blessing, and their staff and students want to engage with the city. Don’t alienate them, engage them. Look at how other cities around the world are working with “Eds” and “Meds” for inclusive growth and a better future.
There is something else you might want to explore, the feeling of Buffalo City as the “home-coming city” for the regional black middle class. The great success of the December home-coming festival and the attraction and charisma of ebuhlanti is built on this idea, but the city has done very little to formalise and develop this brand.
Bringing the Xhosa middle class “home” to East London is already stimulating strong demand for holiday and residential property in the city, but you could do so much more.
But new opportunities should definitely not replace older city assets and strengths. International tourism is a massive industry in South Africa and your city has enormous potential to claim a larger share of that market, as a niched destination. Reinvest in the beaches and natural beauty of the green city.
The modern East London economy was always built on tourism and industry, not one or the other. It is the combination of lifestyle, tourism, sport and industry that offers the most potent and appealing mix for the city.
You face many problems and challenges, but engaging the hands-on involvement of the middle class – both black and white – will help reduce corruption, promote efficiency and create new growth, which will in turn address the larger problems of unemployment, poverty and exclusion.
Let me wish you the best of luck for your term. To become a smart city, Buffalo City needs smart and committed leadership.
Leslie Bank is director and professor of the Fort Hare Institute of Social and Economic Research
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