New Lanseria Smart City just 'papering over the cracks'
According to Paragon Group director Henning Rasmuss, with South African cities and towns fast deteriorating at an infrastructure and service delivery level, the new Lanseria Smart City revealed by President Cyril Ramaphosa during this year's State of the Nation Address is just 'papering over the cracks'.
The urgent problems faced by South African cities, from deteriorating infrastructure to rapid urbanisation, are primarily social and economic in nature, says Paragon Group director Henning Rasmuss.
More important work needs to be done, across the country, says Rasmuss. In this regard, a positive outcome of the Covid-19 pandemic has been business and government having “to learn to work together, to build trust, and to get things done in a hurry. The common enemy in the form of the pandemic has brought an urgency to co-operation and co-existence”, he notes.