Dig-out port offers unemployment ‘lifeline’
Bluff was councillor Duncan Du Bois weighs in on the dig-out port debate.
“TO oppose the dig-out port is to exacerbate and perpetuate unemployment,” said ward 66 councillor, Duncan Du Bois, as he commented on the port protest in the Durban CBD on Saturday, 29 March.
Click here to read about the protest and to view photos and videos.
Du Bois believes the protest, organised by Desmond D’Sa of the South Durban Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) is a misguided and tragic exploitation of ignorance.
“At a time when there is no other prospect of breaking the unemployment cycle in the South Durban Basin, the dig-out port stands out as a lifeline of opportunity. Since the relocation of the airport to La Mercy, the South Durban Basin has been further disadvantaged in terms of employment opportunities. For D’Sa to whip up opposition to what historically will be the largest project ever undertaken in South Africa is sheer lunacy,” said Du Bois.
On the claims by Transnet and the eThekwini Municipality that the dig-out port will create thousands of jobs for local residents, Du Bois is enthusiastic, saying it is an opportunity to be grasped with both hands and for which to be grateful, especially in an area that is ailing in terms of employment opportunities.
Read Transnet’s response here.
“Of course with any such project there is always some disruption and some relocation, but the bigger picture is so overwhelming in terms of the employment opportunities it offers, that it simply beggars belief that the likes of D’Sa can oppose it.
For D’Sa to attempt to shelter behind ‘increased trucking-related deaths’ as part of his opposition is short-sighted and ludicrous. In practise the dig-out port will relieve the current congestion around lower Umbilo and Clairwood and disperse container traffic away from residential areas where, in Clairwood, 10 deaths have occurred over the past eight years from trucks.
If the dig-out port at Isipingo does not happen, Durban is going to lose out to Coega, Richards Bay and even to Walvis Bay, which is five sailing-days closer to the Northern hemisphere markets than Durban.”
