Ramaphosa’s smart city pipedream

A fifth State of the Nation Address has come and gone since President Cyril Ramaphosa first announced his ambition for smart cities in South Africa, but it appears little progress has been made.

Ramaphosa presented his 2025 address on Thursday, 6 February 2025, and did not provide an update on his vision for a “truly post-apartheid” smart city in Lanseria.

The President first spoke of his dream of a South Africa with “smart cities” and “bullet trains” during his 2019 State of the Nation Address.

Although progress has been made on one of the planned smart cities — the Mooikloof Mega City — others, including the Lanseria Smart City, which he said was taking shape the following year, are still in the early planning stages.

Ramaphosa said the Lanseria Smart City would be home to between 350,000 and 500,000 South Africans by 2030. It is set to be built in the area surrounding Lanseria International Airport, north of Johannesburg.

During his 2020 State of the Nation Address, he said the Lanseria Smart City was “taking shape” after the Gauteng government announced plans for the city the year before.

It said the city is designed to be a high-density mixed-use residential area, with its infrastructure and economy centring around the Lanseria Airport.

The plan was for Crosspoint Property Investments, in partnership with the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements, to implement the project over 10 years.

“It will not only be smart and 5G ready but will be a leading benchmark for green infrastructure continental and internationally,” said Ramaphosa.

Plans for the city include regional transportation nodes and extending the Gautrain’s routers to include Lanseria Airport.

When complete, the Lanseria Smart City will “interface with nature,” designed for minimal environmental impact. The government also wants to eliminate the need for cars in the city.

The plan is for residents and workers to commute on foot, bicycle, or, if the need arises, public transport.

It will feature rainwater harvesting and solar energy systems to minimise its carbon footprint.

Still shacks and open veld

Despite the ambitious plans for the Lanseria Smart City, little appears to have been done within four years of Ramaphosa’s announcement that the city was taking shape.

Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi recently revealed that the Greater Lanseria Master Plan, phase one of which will include building a smart city, has been completed.

However, she noted that the bulk infrastructure required to support the city will require significant investment.

“The City of Johannesburg has processed the necessary approvals for urban planning as required for planned development,” said Kubayi.

“This component is also registered under the water and sanitation project pipeline of Infrastructure South Africa (ISA).”

In October 2024, the Lanseria Smart City broke ground with the water treatment plant, designed to produce two megalitres daily. The plant will cost R320 million to complete.

BusinessTech visited the site at which the Lanseria Smart City is set to be built in late January 2025, and it was still only shacks and open veld — much like MyBroadband observed when it visited the site in January 2023.

The visit revealed no progress on infrastructure development, just large stretches of open land and growing informal settlements. It will be interesting to see the fate of these informal settlements when construction begins.

MyBroadband drove along Ashenti Road in January 2023. The route goes directly through the site at which the smart city is set to be built.

On one side of the road was an informal settlement with spaza shops, other small businesses, and some housing. The settlement appeared to have grown when BusinessTech returned two years later.

As is the case with much of the rest of the area, the other side of the road is an open veld. Several electricity pylons are also scattered across the property.