The Mnquma Local Municipality recently contracted TMT to implement an advanced Smart Safe City solution aimed at enhancing public safety, improving situational awareness, and enabling faster response to incidents.
The project, centered in Butterworth, represents a major step forward in the municipality’s vision of using technology to create safer, more connected communities.
Read more: ZA: Mnquma: Building Butterworth: A Safe, Smart City
By 2050, two-thirds of the world’s people will live in cities. South Africa is already feeling that pull as more people move to metros in search of work and opportunity.
Many of our cities are struggling to keep pace. Ageing utilities, unreliable services and congested roads are making daily life harder and slowing growth.
Read more: Why SA’s future depends on smart cities and high-speed fibre
- The Gauteng Department of eGovernment is rolling out free WiFi to several Johannesburg hostels including Diepkloof, Alexandra, Orlando West, and others.
- The initiative connects these hostels to the Gauteng Provincial Network, aiming to provide free internet for education, employment, entrepreneurship, entertainment, and government services
- Part of the Department of eGovernment’s R1.5 billion budget is for expanding free public WiFi across the province.
The Gauteng Department of eGovernment, responsible for the province’s digital infrastructure, has announced that it will be rolling out free WiFi to hostels in the City of Johannesburg.
Read more: ZA: Vulnerable Johannesburg residents to get free government WiFi
Urban October sent a clear message to governments to build people-centred smart cities where technology, data, analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) are leveraged to improve daily life and help communities recover from shocks. This global day highlights real-time, data-driven decision-making and showcases initiatives that put citizens first.
“Cities do not succeed because they are ‘high-tech’. They succeed because they are fair, responsive and easy to live in,” says Alexander Tikhonov, regional director for SAS Middle East, Türkiye and Africa (META). “That requires trusted data, explainable analytics and the discipline to measure whether public services are actually improving for people.”
Read more: Smart cities must be human cities: Why data needs a heartbeat
There has been a significant change in how social grants are being delivered in South Africa in the past few years. What used to be a sluggish and paper intensive process is becoming more and more electronic. I have seen plenty of individuals enjoy this change - but not everybody has enjoyed it. We can discuss the way technology is changing the grant system at the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and how this will impact millions of citizens.
From Queues to Clicks: The Digital Shift
Not long ago, it used to take people long queues to apply or enquire on their status of SASSA grant. It took hours to determine whether an application had been approved. Everything changed with the introduction of digital tools.
Read more: Digital Transformation in Social Grant Delivery: A South Africa Case Study