Ivor Chipkin, Co-Founder and Director of the New South Institute, published an article in The Conversation Africa on 29 September 2026 titled “Johannesburg and Medellín: what South Africa can learn from Colombia about fixing a broken city”.

The article draws on his recent report for the Centre for Development and Enterprise, The Crisis of Johannesburg: An agenda for institutional reform. Chipkin argues that the city’s failures in water, electricity, roads and safety cannot be explained by poor leadership alone. The deeper problem is institutional. The city administration has little authority of its own, the utilities created in the early 2000s were never protected from political interference, and since 2016 coalition partners have treated departments and municipal entities as their own.

He looks to Medellín, once known as the most violent city in the world, where the municipal utility Empresas Públicas de Medellín helped finance and deliver the city’s recovery. For Johannesburg, this would mean real operational autonomy for City Power, Johannesburg Water and Pikitup, with shareholder compacts, clear billing and treasury rules, public performance targets and protection from political interference. Chipkin also warns that reform will meet resistance from those who profit from the current disorder, and that the city will need both a professional administration and the capacity to protect its infrastructure and officials.

The article was also republished by Moneyweb, the Cape Argus, Daily Mirror, Daily Star, Stocks24, Affluencer and Tolerance.ca. TimesLIVE also reported on its proposals.

Read the full article on The Conversation Africa.