The basic needs of communities are typically access to food, personal security, energy, housing, sanitation, employment, water security and employment.
Weskus Distrik’s Municipal Manager David Joubert believes that providing these basic needs are expected, but local government needs to take the lead and be more strategic, especially regarding finding better ways to distribute and enable services.
“The community cannot be expected to understand how changing technology can improve their lives. That’s the job of the municipality. As an example, banks never asked customers if they would like to shift from physical cheque accounts to electronic banking, simply because it was incomprehensible for their customers at the time. Banks did, however, know how life was changing for their customers and found a way to deliver cheaper, spontaneous, convenient, and safer banking”.
A good example of progressive thinking in local government is the movement towards smart cities. The exact definition of a smart city is evolving but the platform and goal is clear: technology which leverages information and communication to enhance service delivery, community well-being, sustainability, and economic development.
“The basic needs of a community are largely unchanged but the way that services are delivered or enabled requires alternative thinking, and technology-enabled process innovation. Smart city is one example of our team’s progressive and alternative approach to improving efficiencies and effectiveness”.
David Joubert
Municipal Manager.
Weskus Distrik Municipality.
