EDITOR – I have been reading several articles about Durban’s R62 billion Inner City Plan, and it’s not only Durban but Cape Town and Johannesburg where this is happening.
We witnessed the chaos in Johannesburg recently when vendors and other undesirables attacked the SAPS, who were trying their best to clean up illegal businesses in the CBD.
Not 25 years ago these were beautiful world class cities and I recall a letter written in your columns where the writers waxed lyrical about those glorious days when people would take a walk down West Street on Sundays – window shopping and even at Christmas time when the lights were switched on.
What happened over the last 25 years that makes the city of Durban need to spend R62 billion to end grime, crime and homelessness? I believe that this is just another one of those PR exercises to create an impression that the City Council is concerned because the impact of this degradation is that all big businesses have moved out of the city thereby leaving these once magnificent buildings vacant. The most recent victim is Edgars and over 200 staff are now unemployed.
Whose fooling who? As the old adage goes “you can fool some of the people some of the time but not all of the people all of the time.” There lies the issue of the government and the municipalities all assuming that we are just stupid.
D Boardwin
Durban
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