The populist option
The Esplanade is becoming just another eyesore in this city, and you can forget about Blue Flag status for that part of the beachfront.
Ignoring all bylaws, it has become a hotspot for taxis to be washed openly, people sit with camping chairs openly consuming liquor with no municipal law enforcement or SAPS officers anywhere in sight – oh no I’m wrong, there they are in plain sight – the SAPS van is being washed there while the officers are standing about in their blue uniforms smoking cigarettes.
Taxi ranks will soon flare up there and whatever infrastructure is built or installed will definitely be vandalised and stolen – even including the security cameras which will be installed will be stolen.
I am sorry to say it but I feel like our beachfront is just one recipe for disaster.
The once beautiful Marina Glen has become the epitome of this state of affairs. Everything there has been ruined there, fauna and flora.
It’s not a family-orientated place to visit anymore because whoever is there might as well be living with pigs, and it’s clearly not a tourist attraction for the same reason.
It is nothing more than an adult drinking hole where liquor and litter are both allowed freely, out in the open.
Employing so-called marshals during the festive season is just a waste of ratepayers’ money (for those of us who do pay rates and taxes to city).
East London’s public places have become like slums and in the CBD anything and everything goes. Bylaws are ignored right next to the mayor’s office and that of his spokesperson.
Bhisho is no better, with goats walking about at the treasury and all kinds of livestock roaming about at the premier’s office.
So how can we boast about a province and town where the leadership is not serious about applying the rule of law but rather takes the populist option? —