New Cities New Economies - South Africa & Africa’s Grand Plan by Tshilidzi Ratshitanga

Given the fact that the engineering of apartheid society was highly geographic, any serious attempt at building a new society has to examine spatial distortions in
South Africa. Racial spatial geography is the rock upon which apartheid was engraved; regardless of the laws having been repealed, this rock still holds strong. Spatial settlement is a concrete phenomenon. It is incorrigible, hard to transform, let alone reform. Massive urbanisation through ex nihilo construction of new cities will revolutionise South Africa’s spatial geography, and impact on the space economy. My strongest recommendations accompany this great work by a young activist who has taken up the mantle to contribute towards building the Africa we want; a global powerhouse of the future. - Kgalema Motlanthe, Former President of South Africa.

Dr Ratshitanga provides a proposition for South Africa to commit to a large-scale urbanisation project across the entire country and continent as a strategy that aims towards attaining higher levels of economic growth and transformation. Defining Pan-African economic revolution anchored upon massive urbanisation, modernisation and industrialisation across the whole of Africa. This is foreseen as nothing less than an African Grand Plan. In his book, Dr Ratshitanga presents a bold, new vision for development and provides a roadmap for achieving prosperity and equality for all South Africans. New Cities New Economies is a must read for anyone interested in the future of South Africa. Professor Leland Ware, University of Delaware New Cities, New Economies is an African vision and contract with the people of South Africa, Africa and the entire world. A generational contribution to the struggle for the betterment of our country and continent To request a review copy, extract and/or interview

About the author
Tshilidzi Ratshitanga is a Mitchell Fellow and Ph.D. graduate of the School of Public Policy and Administration, University of Delaware, USA. He holds an MPhil and Bachelor’s degrees from the University of Port Elizabeth (now Nelson Mandela University) and RAU (now University of Johannesburg) respectively. Dr Ratshitanga is also Chairman and Founder of the New Cities, New Economies Institute, the Global Consortium for Africa’s Economic Development and the Global Black People’s Convention (GBPC). He previously worked as a senior manager in the Government Communications and Information System (GCIS) and subsequently joined the private sector in mining, and property development. He currently serves on a number of boards and is Chairman of both Bokamoso Barona Investment Trust and Kaborona Investment Holdings. He is a director of the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA), Deputy Chairperson of the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency (GGDA) and Chairman of The Innovation Hub.