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Inclusive city is the future: Dlamini-Zuma

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma
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Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, says an inclusive city that accommodates human settlements, an industrial area and a business centre is the future.

She was speaking at the African Capital Cities Sustainability Forum in Pretoria on Monday.

Dlamini-Zuma says it is important that leaders and government on the continent start to plan for the creation of the new cities that can easily attract business and investments.

“Ancient cities that Africans built in Africa were cleared for African conditions and for African trade and they reflected what Africa had and what Africa was doing and they were also inclusive cities. The cities that we inherited were not really inclusive of everyone and the planning reflects that even if you just look South African cities. The special planning there puts other people far from the city other at the city centre,” says Dlamini-Zuma.

Dlamini-Zuma says the old African cities based on resources such as water, gold and diamond discovery didn’t cater for the interests of indigenous people.

“We need now to build our own cities but to also plan for an inclusive but also resilient because we know that there is now climate change and weather is becoming harsher both in terms of floods but also droughts. So we need to ensure that going forward we plan and build more resilient housing, but also smart cities. We must embrace the technology. We need to try and go Green so that we reduce the effects of Green House gases which also make the climate worse,” says Dlamini-Zuma.

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