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CENLED is a center for local economic development and capacity building, established in 2008 in Johannesburg. It offers research, training, and projects to promote economic development and entrepreneurship in municipalities and public/private entities. The center also supports lifelong learning through its partnership with the PASCAL Observatory and offers certified economic developer designations through the International Economic Development Council.
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Dr Elana Swanepoel and Dr Marius VenterCENTRE FOR LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (CENLED)28 August 2018 SUEUAA Johannesburg Urban Engagement
Centre for Local Economic DevelopmentCENLED CENLED in School of Economics, College of Business and Economics, University of Johannesburg (UJ) Established in 2008, primarily for capacity building in the local economic development fields, capacitating small businesses and entrepreneurs. Director, Dr Marius Venter, assisted by 15 associates CENLED established a consortium of South African universities who are participating in the capacity building of local municipalities and public and private entities involved in promoting local economic development and entrepreneurship through research, training and other projects. CENLED has partnered with the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), which supports the professionalisation of economic development practitioners, and the IEDC recognises the EDCSA professional designation of Certified Economic Developers. CENLED houses the Africa Centre of the PASCAL Observatory international network of researchers that promotes learning cities and life-long learning through capacity building, research and training. CREATING LIFE-LONG LEARNING EXPERIENCES IN LED
Geographic location of Johannesburg Republic of South Africa Gauteng Province City of Johannesburg CREATING LIFE-LONG LEARNING EXPERIENCES IN LED
Demographics of the City of Johannesburg Recent Economic performance GDP % constant prices 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 • World Economy * 3.5 3.6 3.5 3.2 3.7 • South Africa 2.3 1.9 1.3 0.6 1.3 • Gauteng 2.7 2.3 1.3 1.3 1.0 • Johannesburg 2.7 2.2 1.1 1.4 0.9 Sources: *IMF World Economic Outlook – July 2018 and WEO Database April 2018 and IHS Markit REX v 1417 July 2018 Johannesburg’s core economic development challenge: Slowing trend in economic growth and high population growth rates leaves unemployment and poverty levels high
Demographics of the City of Johannesburg • Gross domestic product (GDP): R709 billion (15.2% of national GDP) • Size: 1 645 km2 • Total population: 5.04 million (8.9% of national population) • Unofficial estimated at 8 million • People below upper poverty line: 46.8% (CoJ) [for SA = 58.1%] • Official unemployment rate – Q1 2018: 28.8% • Employment level – number of jobs: 2.08 million • Population growth in 2017: 2.3% (National total: 1.5%) • City proper population density: about 2,900 persons per sq km (7,400/square mile) • Racial groups: Black African (76.4%), Coloured (5.6%), White (12.3%) and Indian/Asian (4.9%) • Languages: Nguni (33%), Sotho (25%), English (18%), Afrikaans (7%), Tshivenda (6%) • Education levels: Illiterate (7%), Primary education (3.4%) • 66% of households are headed by a single person • 29% of residents in CoJ live in an informal dwelling • Interestingly, CoJ has the largest man-made forest in the world with 6 million trees
Demographics of the City of Johannesburg • Sector composition: (Basic Data Source: IHS - Markit REX (v1417), July 2018 ) • Finance 30% • Community services 24% • Trade 15% • Manufacturing 14% • Transport 9% • Construction 4% • Electricity 3% • Mining 2% • Agriculture 0% • The economy is dominated by the services sector - which is responsible for more than 75 % of the city’s economic output.
Between 1996 and 2017 Johannesburg’s economy: • More than doubled - expanding by 111% • Fast growing sectors: • Finance, Real Estate Business Services (234%); • Construction (211%); • Transport, Storage (184%); • Trade (112%) • Slow growth: Electricity, gas & water (20%) • Contraction or stagnation - Mining and Quarrying (-25%) In 2017 the sector structure of Johannesburg’s economy reflects: • Tertiary (Services) Sector share: 77.1%; • Secondary Sector share: 20.7%, • Primary Sector share: 2.2% (Basic Data Source: IHS - Markit REX (v1417), July 2018)
Universities in Johannesburg - location (government subsidised) • University of Johannesburg: four campuses • Auckland Park – Kingsway campus – main campus • Auckland Park – Bunting Road campus • Soweto Campus • Doornfontein Campus • University of the Witwatersrand: four campuses in two suburbs • Braamfontein – main campus • Parktown • University of South Africa (main campus in Pretoria) • Science campus in Florida • School of Business Leadership (SBL) in Midrand • University of Pretoria (main campus in Pretoria) • GIBS – Gordon Institute of Business Science in Sandton • University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (GSB) • Satellite campus in Sandton, the heart of Africa’s economic and financial hub (2017)
Interviews and Focus groups Interviews – total 10 • University of Johannesburg: 4 interviews • University of Witwatersrand: 2 interviews • University of South Africa (Unisa): insisted on ethics clearance being provided by Unisa – only possible at end of August; but provided printed reports on community engagement • City of Johannesburg and NGO: 4 interviews Focus groups - 2: • Focus group university: 3 UJ participants • Focus group city: 5 city participants and 1 Wits university participant
Issues in the City of Johannesburg Environmental – perspectives of city officials Sustainable, development goals (SDG): Previous Administration (political party) focused on SDG – sustainability, resilience and environment, but current administration is reviewing The Growth and Development Strategy. Air pollution in city due to factories not complying with NEMA Act (National Environmental Act). CO2 emissions huge problem: installed biodigester at landfill (with UJ) Global warming: As a result of climate change we may have an increase in flash flooding, storm water run-off; the storm-water system was built 120 years ago and cannot cope – water pushes up. Vaal River system from which we get water – storm water and “crap” runs into it Mine and slime dumps around the city – dust blowing off and acid-water drainage seeping into aquifers Waste dumping on land and water; Rubbish – rat infestations in townships Trading in the city streets – about 3000/4000 informal traders – buy Class D fruit and vegetables and rotten ones are dumped in the street gutters 100-year high water mark is being ignored and buildings are built in the flood plains. New development does not take biodiversity into consideration Environmental – perspectives of university academics Landfill space Air quality legislation is not clear – public transport CO2 emissions; City is piloting biofuels; Air pollution from trucks & vehicles – no maintenance; in Europe they have EURO standards on fuels – not in South Africa. Foundry industry considered one of the big polluters Water reticulation, water management and sanitation – no regular maintenance – problem Illegal refuse dumping everywhere; in poor residential areas, eg in Soweto it is horrific; in the inner city – litter everywhere CREATING LIFE-LONG LEARNING EXPERIENCES IN LED
Issues in the City of Johannesburg - Social issues Perspectives of city officials “Social disparity caused by poverty” Unemployment and inequality; Immense pressure on the public physical infrastructure and built environment; more and more people are living in cramped conditions – communal living which impacts on health Migration – in 2017 it outstripped GDP; 3500 per month; leads to breakdown in ‘normal social family relations’ What citizenry should receive, such as safe children raising, good education etc are not provided; social ills “are all pervasive” Huge drug problem in communities “a failed health system”; “It is basically a failed state.” “biggest risk is the unemployed youth population who are very frustrated and have nothing to do, who are angry, who are at risk, and we’ve seen it everywhere.” Anger at lack of services – daily demonstrations – burning of tyres Crime – with poverty and inequality – everyone is into crime “One more thing – there are no values” – “no social values”. Perspectives of university academics Next slide CREATING LIFE-LONG LEARNING EXPERIENCES IN LED
Issues in the City of Johannesburg - Social issues Perspectives of university academics Youth unemployment and it ties into education, poverty, cost of hunger Cost of hunger: if you put a monetary value on the cost of kids who don’t complete school because they’re hungry – poor pass rates – even at university level – we’ve done studies that have shown it would be better to invest in a meal a day than in any other investments – it’s the health costs, the side effects of poverty – linking to crime, violence – in South Africa specifically. Food system – access to health and clean food; “our diets are horrendous”; diabetes increasing consistently and the incidence is 2 to 3 times more that HIV and the cost of treatment 3 times as much and it is a chronic cost – disease burden (Saunders in Cape Town) Domestic violence and gender violence (Oxfam study) link to food insecurity Crime in Joburg – “house-breakings, violent crime, rape, murder - in South Africa they will kill you for a cellphone. And I don’t think you see that kind of crime in developed countries, or Muslim countries, where the laws are much stricter around”. Education system is falling apart – result in inequality; “In South Africa we have a dual system where the tax payers start implementing a paid private system for health care and schools and security - and then your state-owned entities and state care and schools are slowly degrading…” Professionalism and competence of the civil service, which is actually a really big problem. Tax base is declining – fewer people paying taxes; SARS collected less in taxes because of Guptas and state capture – “they captured SARS” Massive corruption between state-owned entities, government links, state funding; it has brought us to our knees; the GDP is not growing – currently 1.2% and inflation is growing, “We are never going to catch up and with that comes all the deterioration of the society” CREATING LIFE-LONG LEARNING EXPERIENCES IN LED
Issues in the City of Johannesburg - Population issues Perspectives of city officials Immigration – undocumented; differentiate between legal and illegal migration; positive and negative connotations. Johannesburg is an economic receiver of new people. Official figure is 5.5 million but in reality, more than 8 million; lack of reliable data an issue. Problems relate to residences, space and accommodation; parts of inner city only foreigners. Xenophobia: at clinics the local people turn foreigners away, not the nurses; the view is that limited resources should not be spent on foreigners. Unemployment figure is 28.9%, but among youth in CoJ it is 40%; and even higher in rural areas. Perspectives of university academics Johannesburg is a primate city – one city dominates the whole country; It attracts people resulting in rural depopulation; About 7000 people per day are coming to the City. Migrants: The city is also trying to use this influx of migrants as positive – seeing it as a positive spin – looking at it as the vibrancy it brings, the different cultures it brings from the continent and also the economies it gives us access to. But there is a bit of a crisis around formalizing informal trade and there’s guys coming in with truckloads of merchandise and selling it at every corner and they’re not South Africa – it’s actually feeding back into the continent and not feeding back into our economy… I know about the spaza shops but this is an economic one but I have just read this study a few weeks ago – 74% of all goods in spaza shops are counterfeit and illicit. CREATING LIFE-LONG LEARNING EXPERIENCES IN LED
Issues in the City of Johannesburg - Health issues Perspectives of city officials Failing national health system, compounded by living conditions which exacerbate non-communicable diseases which are out-stripping TB and HIV/AIDS Competencies across the three spheres/tiers of government (national, provincial and municipal); government only mandated to provide for primary health care; provinces for the rest and at municipal level we depend on the province. “Value chain is split into competencies, budgets, who can do what, mandates, etc, etc”. “The inability to carry on with projects over a rolling budget”. There is no accountability and no reason for the province to listen to the city; there is no consequence if they don’t. If national does not reinforce a programme, the city is restricted. But the City knows what is good for ourselves and we should be allowed to implement; “we cannot break through the Gauteng government’s regulations”. Perspectives of university academics Loss of medical professionals has been massive (also engineers) – no return on investment in terms of training people; we import Cuban doctors – not the same level of training National Health Insurance – Government tries to regulate public health sector. “Instead of trying to limit the private health care we should try and look for solutions of improving the public health care system. The big scandal of a 120 people lost in the system because of corruption and weird deals around them.” Quite a few essential medicines that are not always available. “We’ve seen when government is left to do this alone – through corruption everything has started decaying. So, we need to have this partnership but I don’t know how you deal with the public funding crisis.” Example, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital = public-private partnership CREATING LIFE-LONG LEARNING EXPERIENCES IN LED
Issues in the City of Johannesburg - Economic issues Perspectives of city officials The economy shifted from reliance on mining industry to services industry. Problem: informal settlements appear next to industrial areas – relocate to other countries Problem: crime. IBM has indicated an intention to leave. MoU between UJ/Wits/City to install CCTV to reduce crime. Where is the SAPS (South African Police Services)? And the whole legal fraternity? The prison system, even the courts of law? Problem: Low growth and increased demand, plus Gini coefficient; growth limited to top 10% but have much higher demand on lower LSMs (Living Standards Measure); people go to bed hungry “City is much better at implementing once-off projects than running sustainable programmes”. “Very difficult even internally to get the resources and ‘capacity and commitment of the very highest level to sustain a programme over many years. We do spend money as a city – quite a lot of money. I think R12 billion is it? But we’ve got a backlog of about R150 billion, you know, just to fix up our infrastructure. So, while we spend money, it’s not the type of money we need to spend. “oy yoy yoy!” Perspectives of university academics Corruption and state capture Land redistribution without compensation Mining charter (or mining mess) – 80% of mines are not profitable but with right policy and technology these could be turned around. But policies make it hard Energy shortage – economy cannot grow; lost our manufacturing sector almost completely Good plans but no implementation Link between political parties and labour (unions) is affecting the economy CREATING LIFE-LONG LEARNING EXPERIENCES IN LED
Engagement in the City of Johannesburg Perspectives of city officials Universities have the expertise, ability and resources (students) to conduct research and gather evidence that we need for our projects. They have students that can conduct fieldwork. We have good relations with universities and use them across all sectors. UJ build the biodigester and now UJ is training the artisans to build the biodigester We have an academic Green Chair at UJ and an Economics chair at Wits; we sponsor master’s and PhD students; our Metrobuses is a university partnership to run green buses Universities are another organ of state which allows the City to procure them They have the resources; they are mapping our township economies – 800 researchers on cell phones mapping out what is going on in townships and businesses; UJ project – Nicky Janse van Rensburg (PEETS) GCRO – Gauteng City-Region Observatory – jointly UJ/Wits/City HEI Forum – City and all the /Executives and Deans of the universities meet: UJ, Wits and Unisa, (State universities). Focus on existing and future projects and how to partner – Nobantu Lesia JIKE – Joburg Innovation and Knowledge Exchange Wits City Institute: Prof Noeline Murray, Director CoJEnvironment and Infrastructure Services Department (EISD) engages with universities. Comdev does quite a lot with the universities. Simon Roberts from UJ gives us terrific economic data and sectorial data. Perspectives of university academics Next slide CREATING LIFE-LONG LEARNING EXPERIENCES IN LED
Engagement in the City of Johannesburg Perspectives of university academics City of Johannesburg and UJ has MoU, as with other universities and knowledge partners. This makes contracting and implementation easier; eg the biodigester – engineering faculty manage the project. Two technology stations in the Engineering Faculty help with the transfer of knowledge from the university to the community and to support SMEs; one support Green economy and one supports the foundry industry – heavy metal casting. Supported by Technology Innovation Agency of the Department of Science and Technology. Resolution Circle (UJ owned) did major projects for the CoJ around digital divide, community innovation fund and the green city star. Centre of Entrepreneurship for SMEs. Also do public administration training Local economic development – specific departments are involved Although there is high level agreement between CoJ and universities, if you do not know who to engage with in the City, it is really difficult to build those relationships Chair sponsored by CoJ – green economic chair in engineering Another chair is being established – in town and regional planning or is it with Wits Short course SLPs are for industry – offered by all the faculties and for anyone PEETS hosts workshops and city partners are invited to participate; UJ has a strategic partnership division – Rudy Petersen Joburg Inner-City Partnership (JICP) – UJ has directors serving on this NGO The relationships with the CoJ seem to be “ad-hoc”; The City officials have their KPIs and are guided by procurement. CREATING LIFE-LONG LEARNING EXPERIENCES IN LED
Barriers to engagement in the City of Johannesburg Perspectives of city officials Red tape on both sides – official MoU needed; need formal mandate from very top; the legal departments on both sides must approve it -bouncing back and forth. There needs to be a more seamless way of obtaining legal acceptance and completing the administrative aspects Academia’s performance measures focus often on research for own measurement in the institution; difficult to access research and it often does not address our needs We do not have a lot of internal institutional capacity to conduct research. Academics do not understand how the City systems work. They need to approach us from an “informed perspective”. But the City also does not understand how the University works. Eg biodigester project, the City had unrealistic expectations of UJ who delivered one biodigester and provided the detail to the City to commercialise while City expected UJ to provide a number of biodigesters. Before a project can be approved by the CoJ it has to go through a hierarchy of approval – several committees – delay the process. Procurement in the City is very restrictive; new administration insists that at least four universities are consulted – internal restrictions; supply chain management – it prolongs the implementation of projects. When the project is completed then Finance wants a ‘whole truck full of documents” to qualify for payment. From the perspective of the Wits attendee – only barrier – personnel changes and contact sheets are not updated but City very easy to engage with but you Have to do the initial work. The City does not proactively go out and ask for engagement. Problem is with new dispensations, new governments. We can get the City to come and talk to us on any of their official programmes. Talk on green buildings, gender violence, arts and culture, city spaces Perspectives of university academics – next slide L CREATING LIFE-LONG LEARNING EXPERIENCES IN LED
Barriers to engagement in the City of Johannesburg Perspectives of university academics In engineering the engineers become specialists and “close themselves off to engagement”. Only one or two that engage. The KPIs of the City and the university academics are completely different – result in a disconnect; engagement is seen as a social work – not integrated in the research Multidisciplinary collaboration is not rewarded in the system. Result : people are working in silos. Community engagement eats into your time. “Balancing centrally controlled coordination and relationships and making sure the right people are connected and linked is a very difficult thing to get right. And I think it will always be individuals that drive this sort of thing”. Eg Urban Agriculture – Faculty of Humanities – Dr Naude Malan In terms of Industry 4.0, UJ has already completely embraced it. Whether or not that has been translated to support the city – we’re still grappling with what that’s going to mean for the university - how we engage with our partners in the city around that. “Where the special task teams deviated to have the university experts as co-opted advisors on those committees – and we almost had it right with food resilience ?? Then there was a Change of government. So just as a task team got their terms of reference settled it fell apart and the person who head up“ The needs of the City need to be articulated; Studies need to be non-Newtonian; need action. Universities can play the engagement role because it is seen as an independent and trusted unit. They have no commercial interest. Getting contracts signed and getting agreements in place – getting the city to pay for things that they commit to. – a challenge. There is a complete disconnect between reality and intention at the moment in our country. Maybe it’s always been like that but I find it’s exacerbated at the moment. Engagement is not rewarded – academics are forced to focus on research and tuition and engagement is not linked to research. CREATING LIFE-LONG LEARNING EXPERIENCES IN LED
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