‘Paradise lost’ for ABW visitors
There are fears that the biker bucks might go elsewhere next year because of the lawlessness and dilapidated state of the town.
IS Margate REALLY ready for Africa Bike Week?
Hibiscus Coast Municipality says: “Yes!”
However, many are not so sure and fear that millions of biker bucks might go elsewhere next year because of the dilapidated state of the town and lawlessness.
Bikers will only start arriving next week, so hopefully they don’t see this story. We publish it in the hope that it eggs everyone on to pull out all stops before the bikers get here.
To stage an event of this magnitude, with tremendous economic spin-offs and tourism benefits for the entire Hibiscus Coast, you would think HCM would be frantically sprucing up Margate and surrounds as we speak.
HCM spokesman Simon April said that various municipal departments were busy within sections of the Margate areas.
Plans are in place for Africa Bike Week for maintenance of facilities along the Margate Beach area, which will be operational from 7:30am to 2am daily. In this regard the Africa Bike Week organisers are also working closely with HCM officials, – Simon April
However, Herald journalists found it hard to find any ‘sparkle’ after two road trips to Ramsgate from Port Shepstone.
It was glaringly apparent that little maintenance was being done.
More apparent were broken and missing railings along Margate beachfront, a destroyed whale deck, the closure of Margate’s Amusement Park, filthy toilets in desperate need of a revamp, potholes, street children, overflowing bins and litter (even alcohol bottles) and hordes of prostitutes.
Even the brand new toilets on Margate beach were broken or missing tank lids. The list goes on…
A Herald reader, penned as ‘Sam’, said that she had an eagle’s view over Marine Drive in Margate. From her flat window she saw prostitution and drug deals going down daily ‘while cops just drive past’.
She added that another hot spot for prostitutes and drug dealers was an ATM along this stretch.
“Surely this bank can make a plan and get them away – at least that will be a start,” she said.
She moved from Johannesburg to the coast nine months ago and was ‘very disappointed’.
She saw shops closing down, rubbish everywhere and people using a nearby vacant plot as a toilet.
I moved to Margate as I thought it was a nice place. This town was known to be the Mecca of the South Coast, but not anymore, -Sam
“The drug dealers walk the street as if they know the cops won’t do anything to them. They hand the drugs over to the prostitutes, they get high and make noise in the middle of the night as they are freaking high,” she said.
A sad sight for Herald journalists was the ruins of the old Margate Amusement Park. It is now just a junk pile.
Visitors interviewed moaned that there was no longer any beachfront entertainment for their children.
A local businessman agreed. “There is nothing for children or families to do on the beach anymore,” he said.
Asked for comment, Mr April said that the tenant for the Margate Amusement Park vacated the premises at the end of January and that the municipality was not in a position to source another tenant, pending permission from the National Public Works Department. All admiralty reserve properties were their responsibility.
He explained that the lease agreement between HCM and the department had expired. They were in negotiations and a new tenant would then be sourced.
“The litter and rubbish left behind is in the process of being cleaned up and removed,” he said.
Perhaps locals are so used to broken bridges at St Mike’s and Oslo Beach that they just don’t notice any more.
However, will they go unnoticed by visitors? This with faded and tatty stickers plastered on electrical boxes or poor patch jobs on sidewalks, the common sight of black bags of garbage left lying on the streets long after 10am and broken or falling down signboards.
Dare we mention the potholes… for the umpteenth time?
Perhaps HCM is not entirely to blame, but they can certainly put pressure on other government departments and even shoddy businesses to play their part. The coast is desperate for business to provide jobs and improve the lot of all its citizens. We need development, but let’s get the basics right first.
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