Clairwood’s urban decay

WITH the municipal elections due in five months, remarks from two correspondents on the letters page (the POST, May 12-16) concerning urban social conditions are politically relevant.

Venonlin Govender laments the decline of Pietermaritzburg under the ANC, while Previn Vedan, an ANC eThekwini councillor, boasts of the role of the ANC to bring about change and face adversity with dignity.

The reality of Vedan’s boast, however, is that in promoting change, the ANC has exacerbated adversity and insulted dignity.

There can be no question that the plight of millions is more adverse today than at any previous time.

Under the ANC, urban decay has festered. While there are examples of that countrywide, one of the more glaring examples of that decay is Clairwood.

Founded in 1880, Clairwood was home to 40 000 Indian folk in its heyday. It was a thriving hub of market gardening and entrepreneurial enterprise as Dr Juggie Pather relates in his historical account titled Clairwood – The Untold Story published in 2015. But under the ANC, that proud suburb was allowed to crumble and decay.

Despite plans put forward in 2001 to ringfence the inner residential core, history, heritage and dignity were cast aside in December 2006. At a meeting attended by Dr Michael Sutcliffe, eThekwini metro manager at the time, and Soobs Munsamy, the head of town planning, it was decreed that Clairwood’s destiny would not be determined by town planning regulations but by commercial and industrial interests.

Fifteen years later, Clairwood is the home of more than 50 trucking companies and of several informal settlements. Its deterioration and disintegration is a stark reminder of the adversity which plagues every urban area under the ANC. Examples of residential pride and dignity survive in parts of Clairwood, such as Pine, Ganesh and Cherry roads. But they are hemmed in either by industry, informal settlements or slum houses.

Regrettably, the non-application of town planning regulations has been exploited by property owners who have either sold out to industry or allowed their lands and properties to become squatter cesspools.

Having represented Clairwood as part of ward 66 in eThekwini from 2001 to 2011, its state in 2021 thanks to ANC indifference and neglect is tragic. As such, it is difficult to endorse Dr Ashwin Desai’s remark made in the foreword of Clairwood – The Untold Story, that with its history of resistance, Clairwood will prevail.

DR DUNCAN DU BOIS Freedom Front Plus

Bluff