I too love Durban, but…

ILOVE Durban – warts, bluebottles, humidity and all. And I’ve got a tattoo somewhere on my anatomy to prove it.

Yes, that other dorp to the southwest might have its own majestic mountain, and the good folk of Gauteng might delude themselves into believing their streets are paved with gold, but when it comes to stress-free living, give me Durban any day.

For years now, the city has moved around with a sense of relaxed urgency, almost waging passive resistance to the rat race of the other metros of Joburg and Cape Town.

Don’t get me wrong – it’s not that we lack ambition and drive.

Durbanites certainly get things done, but we don’t break out into an unnecessary sweat over them.

Just look around you and you’ll see the results of our entrepreneurship and development – Moses Mabhida, the ICC, uShaka, Suncoast, Gateway and Pavilion – and, who knows, when movie mogul Anant Singh can tear himself away from his Hollywood commitments, we could soon have a world-class film studio on our doorstep.

Add to this our natural assets and diversity of cultures and you can see why Durban’s a winning city.

Come to think of it, I can recall just three instances in which the city lurch. Okay, the city fathers and mothers realised their error and are taking the buses back, so there’s some relief in sight.

Another infamous example was Durban’s decision to allow Jeremy Clarkson to come here over three years to play Top Gear with his toy cars on our main city streets.

Now that Clarkson and his team have been put in reverse gear and the festival canned, most Durbanites are heaving a sigh of relief and saying: “Good riddance”.

For Durban’s third ill-considered and ill-timed decision, we turn to the city’s bid this week to host the Commonwealth Games in 2022, a project that will cost us billions of rands we don’t have.

The question is: are the Commonwealth Games something we’d like to have or need to have?

If a city like Edmonton in Canada – the only other bidder – can say no to the Games because of more urgent priorities, why is Durban overreaching itself at a time when it can barely build roofs over people’s heads, keep the lights on and ensure enough running water for citizens?

Let’s get our priorities right. The games might be good publicity for our city, but they will not deliver common wealth, just common debt.

dennis.pather@telkomsa.net