My Take…The South Coast seems poised for major development… at last!
Let’s not blow it with petty squabbling and narrow-minded thinking.
MICHAELl Mabuyakhulu, the MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, called it when he spoke to the Ugu District hierarchy in Margate on Monday evening:
“We mustn’t be divided by a ‘them’ and an ‘us’ mentality,” he said. He appealed to everyone to work together to ‘make it happen’ and not just to wait for a ‘magic wand’.
For once, one was left with a feeling that these were not just meaningless sentiments from a politician eager to garner votes.
Mr Mabuyakhulu outlined an exciting plan, obviously for the entire KZN province, but more specifically, he alluded to projects in the pipeline worth billions that could well change our fortunes dramatically.
We’re talking big events, water worlds, theme parks, hotels… even airports. (OK, let’s not get too carried away yet. Think singular, not plural at this stage.)
Nevertheless, the MEC’s three-hour talk and question-and-answer session was impressive and left one with a positive outlook for the south which has always been the Cinderella of the East Coast, compared to the north and Durban.
We called it
Coupled with the above, the Scottburgh Town Hall was packed last Wednesday, as the Mail predicted, and that meeting also left one with renewed hope for Umdoni.
The grand plan outlined by Royal HaskoningDHV was well received, but the meeting did get off to a rather shaky start, exactly because of the very ‘them and us’ mentality mentioned by Mr Mabuyakhulu.
Mayor Siyabonga Khwela opened the meeting by reminding everyone that our beaches were closed to many of our citizens 20 years ago. The predominantly white audience booed and cut him short.
‘Move on’, somebody shouted from the back. Well, that’s very easy to say if one does not have painful memories of those dark days a mere generation ago.
A better understanding of the hurt that apartheid caused the vast majority of South Africans is surely justified.
