The latest cities of opportunities report by PwC has ranked Cape Town, South Africa as the top most opportunity city in Africa and placed it 6th among middle-income country cities, behind Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Moscow, Shanghai, and Mexico City; mayor Patricia de Lille said on Sunday. Cape Town also ranked 24th out of all the 31 cities included in the global study.
“With an unemployment rate 13 percentage points lower than the national figure, and 10 points lower than the average metro, Cape Town is a city of genuine opportunity for millions of people”, said MayCo member for Transport and Urban Development, Brett Herron while presenting the findings.
The report, Cape Town: African city of opportunity sought to explore global themes that make cities competitive by benchmarking the city against 30 other global hubs across a series of 66 indicators on quality of life, economics, and the tools – such as human and intellectual capital and city brand – needed to succeed in a changing world.
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The city’s highest score was in transportation and infrastructure while the other hand, the city scored poorly for tech readiness. The study also noted that bad traffic is a feature of almost all the major cities and focusing on becoming the next ‘digital hub’ is almost as common.
Cape Town also prevailed based on some of its longstanding attributes which include its natural beauty, good universities and the relatively low-cost of living. Government policy has also improved the ease of doing business, transport and airport ranking for the city.
The study took into account travel and work possibilities, and the balance between economic and physical security, nurturing aspiration, quality of life and the overall environment.
In the report, Cape Town is set against some of the world’s leading cities with vibrant economies, high quality of life and thriving market centres. The 30 global cities chosen represent a sizable proportion of the world economy.
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“Today (Sunday), I am encouraged to see that Cape Town is recognised as Africa’s opportunity city, but in order for us to stay globally competitive we need to take the city to the next level and create opportunities for all,” the city’s mayor, De lille said.
A key intervention was for the city to decisively address apartheid spatial planning that kept the majority of residents away from opportunities to jobs, good education, and healthcare. “We also need to improve safety in these communities and support business development,” she said.
–The Citizen, CBN, PwC
