City has lost its sparkle and glamour
IT’S A disgrace and a shame that the centrepiece of a city, Adderley Street, the main road or boulevard, should look like a third-rate, backward “Fourth” World market.
Adderley Street has long lost its shine and glamour and it’s almost tarnished beyond recognition. While other less wellknown cities in Africa try to add sparkle and style to their city centres, Cape Town, once a leader in Africa, is falling sadly behind.
Minibus taxis park on the turning lane from Adderley into Strand, and often in the parking or exiting manoeuvres, block further lanes, making driving around frustratingly unproductive and slow.
Cycle lanes are “free of cyclists” yet congested with bins, motorbikes and overflowing street sellers. The magnificent Standard Bank building and its spectacular fencing is covered with cheap Chinese goods.
Other vehicles double park, offloading. Meanwhile, the narrow pavements are overwhelmed with street sellers, the vast majority from outside our borders, making it impossibly difficult to walk past at most times, let alone to push a baby pram or wheelchair. Shop fronts and major “rate-paying” buildings have capitulated to this sleaze and grime. For a passenger, getting out of a car door is impossible as it cannot be opened against the plastic covers of the street-seller stands. It is time for Cape Town, representing its accolade as one of the world’s most beautiful cities, to return the sparkle and glamour to city streets.
I have watched videos on YouTube of Buenos Aires, Port Louis, Mauritius, and even Kigale, Rwanda, which all put Cape Town to shame. Cape Town should provide some decent architecturally inspiring kiosks, much like those found in Paris or Athens on suitable spots only, and possibly repurpose some derelict buildings for use by street vendors.
Cape Town has to progress, and this regression is out of keeping of world-class cities.