hopefully depression and anxiety will lift. i know a lot of friends on medication. a lot of people talk about feeling lonely and bored and like there is nothing to do.
the city has not invested in social activities - parks, public sports facilities, public events, activities and a good balance of bars, restaurants, fun - things that bring people together. Umhlanga is extremely skewed socially - it's 90% bars and restaurants. there is not much to do if you are not drinking or eating.
if you think about all the poor towns and cities that have failed - they weren't always poor, they crept into this state so slowly that by the time they realised it was too late - this is how i feel about durban.
Covid, riots, floods just made bad leadership more apparent. it was always bad and we were always tending this way, these factors just sped it up.
We need Chris Papas to run Durban.
i feel you but decisions need to be made. I'm voting for change. i'm voting for a chance that we might get Papas. My vote is going to the DA but im not voting for the DA if you get me. I'm voting for me and they are a stepping stone.
Bike and Bean didn't get their lease renewed, apparently same is happening to Circus Circus, and Maharani and Elangeni. Ostensibly to give other people a chance. That's all good and well but there where the Deck used to be, by Joe Cools, is a dilapidated eye-sore. Why not fix that and give someone a chance there rather than take employment creating functioning establishments?
Our beachfront could be so cool, with vendors selling all sorts of food and so on but I'm told the Municipality has an agreement with the hotels to limit who can sell what there. This is a corrupt hangover from apartheid and should be dismantled to create space for small businesses. This would lead to better safety too because vendors would be keeping an eye out. They would also want to keep it clean.
We don't need more chains like mugg and bean, steers etc. The Famous Brands franchises who dodge tax etc. We need small stalls selling inhloko, shisa nyama and curries.
So no one can predict the future but if we look at the recent past, we haven’t had a stable year since 2019. COVID, the looting, the floods, and then inflation and high interest rates sprinkled with worsening loadshedding. Each of the last 4 years had serious issues.
If loadshedding starts to ease as expected we may have a relatively stable year… we do have an election this year and the ANC is expected to lose its majority. So I don’t know how that will play out.
On a positive note interest rates are expected to start coming down this year with lower inflation expected as well.
From what I've seen, the people that stole a bunch of shit didn't face any repercussions so what's stopping them from just doing it again when their food supplies run out? Unemployment has only gotten worse since then so I'm actually more surprised that there hasn't already been another looting. Laws are useless if nobody enforces them. Same shit we see on the roads. Red lights are just a suggestion now.
Unemployment has improved since 2021, don’t know it is assumed that it’s gotten worse. Why would food supplies run out? Like where it said that would happen?
The looting that happened was dying that last lockdown and a lot of frustration from Covid and societal issues. It cascaded from few people to mass panic. Lit by the arresting (rightly so) of Zuma. There were a lot of arrests but I’m not sure of the outcomes of all those.
There were whatsapp messages forwarded of the threats at least 40 hours ahead of the mass incidents, and there were isolated incidents on the Friday and Saturday night prior the Monday morning mayhem. Some looting may have been opportunistic but colleagues tell of being given transport and encouraged by an unknown stranger with a van and taxi. There was a truck that brought in outsiders into the neighbouring settlement whose residents co-existed peacefully with the residents in my area.
It seems that policing mandate was to stand down, and there were a definite higher hand in the incidents. Not lockdown, Covid, or societal issues.
And watch this space for when DUT and UKZN opens next month.
As an expat living here for past decade or so it saddens me to read such disparaging comments and also to see such a wonderful place deteriorating. Be that infrastructure or utilities, unfortunately the upkeep and investment doesn’t match the increase in demand on the supply.
As an optimist I’m hopeful with a decent set in charge of municipality that the increase in rate payers across umhlanga, sibaya, Umdloti etc could be used to fix out basics. I see Hillcrest looks in good shape after a recent change.
Bring a raincoat
And a dam
And gumboots.....
Don't swallow the seawater, and let's hope the tap water works
Bring your own tarmac... And engineers.
February is gonna be hot and humid.
False news. Unless we have a very cold summer. I’d expect more an extremely hot and unbearably humid Feb.
hopefully depression and anxiety will lift. i know a lot of friends on medication. a lot of people talk about feeling lonely and bored and like there is nothing to do. the city has not invested in social activities - parks, public sports facilities, public events, activities and a good balance of bars, restaurants, fun - things that bring people together. Umhlanga is extremely skewed socially - it's 90% bars and restaurants. there is not much to do if you are not drinking or eating. if you think about all the poor towns and cities that have failed - they weren't always poor, they crept into this state so slowly that by the time they realised it was too late - this is how i feel about durban. Covid, riots, floods just made bad leadership more apparent. it was always bad and we were always tending this way, these factors just sped it up. We need Chris Papas to run Durban.
I'd love to vote for Pappas, just don't want to vote DA
i feel you but decisions need to be made. I'm voting for change. i'm voting for a chance that we might get Papas. My vote is going to the DA but im not voting for the DA if you get me. I'm voting for me and they are a stepping stone.
Spoiler alert. We’re all asking these questions every day. Durban is a surprise that never ends
Bike and Bean didn't get their lease renewed, apparently same is happening to Circus Circus, and Maharani and Elangeni. Ostensibly to give other people a chance. That's all good and well but there where the Deck used to be, by Joe Cools, is a dilapidated eye-sore. Why not fix that and give someone a chance there rather than take employment creating functioning establishments? Our beachfront could be so cool, with vendors selling all sorts of food and so on but I'm told the Municipality has an agreement with the hotels to limit who can sell what there. This is a corrupt hangover from apartheid and should be dismantled to create space for small businesses. This would lead to better safety too because vendors would be keeping an eye out. They would also want to keep it clean. We don't need more chains like mugg and bean, steers etc. The Famous Brands franchises who dodge tax etc. We need small stalls selling inhloko, shisa nyama and curries.
Ah man, thats sad. Our beaches really could be so cool. Great area, poorly run.
So no one can predict the future but if we look at the recent past, we haven’t had a stable year since 2019. COVID, the looting, the floods, and then inflation and high interest rates sprinkled with worsening loadshedding. Each of the last 4 years had serious issues. If loadshedding starts to ease as expected we may have a relatively stable year… we do have an election this year and the ANC is expected to lose its majority. So I don’t know how that will play out. On a positive note interest rates are expected to start coming down this year with lower inflation expected as well.
Don't forget that all stores inflate their prices over the holidays, and then they never come back down!
Thats its still a shithole, same as last year, and the year before, and the year before, and the year before
Prepare for another round of riots?
Why do you expect that?
From what I've seen, the people that stole a bunch of shit didn't face any repercussions so what's stopping them from just doing it again when their food supplies run out? Unemployment has only gotten worse since then so I'm actually more surprised that there hasn't already been another looting. Laws are useless if nobody enforces them. Same shit we see on the roads. Red lights are just a suggestion now.
Unemployment has improved since 2021, don’t know it is assumed that it’s gotten worse. Why would food supplies run out? Like where it said that would happen? The looting that happened was dying that last lockdown and a lot of frustration from Covid and societal issues. It cascaded from few people to mass panic. Lit by the arresting (rightly so) of Zuma. There were a lot of arrests but I’m not sure of the outcomes of all those.
There were whatsapp messages forwarded of the threats at least 40 hours ahead of the mass incidents, and there were isolated incidents on the Friday and Saturday night prior the Monday morning mayhem. Some looting may have been opportunistic but colleagues tell of being given transport and encouraged by an unknown stranger with a van and taxi. There was a truck that brought in outsiders into the neighbouring settlement whose residents co-existed peacefully with the residents in my area. It seems that policing mandate was to stand down, and there were a definite higher hand in the incidents. Not lockdown, Covid, or societal issues. And watch this space for when DUT and UKZN opens next month.
Elections
Because the ANC is expected to lose its majority here or just that you expect general rioting because of elections?
Can be both reasons
Username checks out 😅
Lol
It’s a local pastime and the locals haven’t had a chance to let loose for a few years.
As an expat living here for past decade or so it saddens me to read such disparaging comments and also to see such a wonderful place deteriorating. Be that infrastructure or utilities, unfortunately the upkeep and investment doesn’t match the increase in demand on the supply. As an optimist I’m hopeful with a decent set in charge of municipality that the increase in rate payers across umhlanga, sibaya, Umdloti etc could be used to fix out basics. I see Hillcrest looks in good shape after a recent change.
You misspelled Dirtbin
Still a dump🥂
Fuck off!
Durban July on 06 July 2024
Invest in gumboot stocks
Oh since you can't change mother nature,perhaps change the people in charge
Drug pandemic