HOPEFULLY, his Royal Highness, King Goodwill Zwelithini’s recent call for South Africans to ‘bury the hatchet’ with foreigners wasn’t misinterpreted, like his previous statement was… for them (foreigners) to pack up and go home.
To clarify the idiom to those not familiar with it, ‘bury the hatchet’ means to ‘make peace’ with one’s enemies.
And that’s exactly what we should be doing now at local level, based on a common vision to upgrade the Scottburgh beachfront and help our patch of paradise boom.
Let’s forget the selfish agendas, petty squabbles and point scoring before next year’s local government elections and concentrate on the future of Umdoni as a whole for a change.
Last week the Mail called for a local leader to put up his hand. But realistically, it’s almost naive to expect an individual – no matter how dynamic – to succeed in a racially divided society like ours.
Second best is for a committee of leaders – regardless of their political affiliations – plus business and townspeople to make critical decisions by consensus.
The ‘taskforce’ working on the beachfront facelift seems to be inspiring just that. Hats off to all role players.
Maybe this will just be the catalyst for more positive things to come and no political party or individual tries to take the credit.
After all, we are a tourist destination. If our beaches attract flush holidaymakers, there will be much more to go around… even to uplift those in need.
We seem to be on a roll now with the multi-million Rand water park set to splash-off next year at Kelso. And dare we hope for an airport?
Let’s not blow it!
