Help wanted: CoJ offering R300k for best idea to help fix Johannesburg

The City of Johannesburg (CoJ) is running a competition to find the best ways to run the city.

Dubbed the Community Innovation Challenge and Award 2024, the CoJ’s Smart City office is accepting proposals that enhance engagement, innovation and service delivery.

First prize is R300,000 for a pilot project, with two second-place winners being granted R200,000 and four bronze medallists receiving R100,000 to fund their ideas.

Crumbling Johannesburg infrastructure

Concerned citizens are gifted with ample material on which to build their proposals.

Large signalised intersections are often reduced to multi-laned four-way stops, malfunctioning streetlights turn roads into dark alleys and litter decorates street corners from the inner city to the suburbs.

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Additionally, Johannesburg Water crisscrosses the city chasing water leaks and the Johannesburg Roads Agency receives more reports of potholes per day than they are able to attend to.

Submissions already open

All submissions must be the intellectual property of the individual or group submitting the proposal, and all material must be submitted electronically.

Submissions need to focus on issues impacting the daily lives of residents, address solutions affecting large communities and “demonstrate the potential to improve public services”.

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Asking for novel ways to solve complex problems, the CoJ states that submissions must also include itemised costings and phased implementation plans.

“We want to merge creativity with collaboration to unlock new opportunities. Winning ideas won’t just receive recognition but will also be piloted to improve specific areas of city services,” stated Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero.

Town Hall meetings across the city’s regions will be hosted by the CoJ and Wits Tshimologong Precinct to elaborate on the initiative.

The window for entries opened on 7 October and will close on 29 November.

Adjudication process ‘unclear’

Democratic Alliance Johannesburg Caucus leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku questioned why the innovation challenge has been launched with such little fanfare.

The initiative is the brainchild of the current leadership and Kayser-Echeozonjoku said it could be used to promote the interests of communities aligned with the ruling coalition partners.  

“It smacks of patronage. We would have expected more of a public call and the opportunity for ward councillors to engage with their communities,” Kayser-Echeozonjoku told The Citizen.

She added that not enough was being done to ensure fair participation, saying it was unclear if the adjudication process would be made public or if independent judging would be conducted.

Details on the entry criteria for the innovation challenge are available on the City of Johannesburg website.

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