DEAR Editor,-
My wife and I moved to the South Coast after living in Pinetown for five months. Being unemployed at the time, we visited Durban almost every day and I must say if I could go back, I would.
We bought a house in Manaba some ten years ago when everyone wanted to live in Margate and it was the place to be seen. Summer holidays were like American ‘spring breaks’ and Christmas and New Year on the beach was a jol.
As a family, we could not have been happier and thought we would never want to leave this place. Durban was a shocking place, with crime on the beaches and streets and the beaches were scary. Spending a day on Durban’s beaches meant getting mugged and besides, the place was filthy.
The tide has turned and Margate and Durban have changed roles. Now Durban is the place to be. The beachfront has been upgraded and many people are out there every day, and thousands on weekends. To rent a bicycle to go from the Umgeni River to Ushaka Marine World and back, you need two hours – and what a fabulous two hours they are!
The whole family can enjoy time out at one of the best views in the world, where you feel so safe, with visible policing and clean beachfront shops where you can stop to have a drink or eat something. You can visit the Moses Mabhida stadium on the bike and watch fishermen catching fish from the beach or surfers frolicking. You name it and it is there!
There are paved walkways big enough for bicycles, skateboarders, rollerbladers, joggers and even entertainers. It is an outing that is so enjoyable, you need a week to do the complete trip.
And then you come to the South Coast where you have to lock yourself in your house. Too scared to go to the beach for fear of being robbed or mugged and your house might be broken into while you are out. The rivers are filthy and stink and there is rubbish wherever you look. We have roads that need 4×4 vehicles to get to the beach and back, etc, etc.
What happened to this place? How could we have slipped backwards so badly? And will it ever be rectified? The Blue Flag status will be reinstated for Durban, but Margate needs a ‘Red Flag’ for the entire world to see.
MIKE STEYN
