Area after which PE named a shameful mess

YOU can go anywhere in the world but you won’t find any place that has got such an amazing story of how it got it’s name, as Port Elizabeth.

PE is named of course after the wife of Sir Rufane Donkin, Elizabeth Markham from York, who died in 1818 after childbirth.

The broken-hearted officer was on his way back from India when he was posted from Cape Town to the new little settlement to assist the British set- tlers. Donkin never got over his wife’s death and though successful as a member of parliament with a new wife, he shot himself dead on May Day 1841. It’s not surprising the most popular place for tourists is the Donkin.

But what will they find? You would think that after all the millions spent it would be beautiful! The famous terrace of Settler houses unfinished and boarded up, only half-finished.

The grass around the Donkin is full of weeds. Graffiti is scrawled on one of the artistic objects. Going down the hill I was amazed, after all the money spent, to find stones, rubbish and weeds.The statue in Parliament Street representing flowing water hasn’t been cleaned in years. Going down Parliament Street there are the remains of concrete benches.

The wood has rotted away but the concrete setts just lie there. Why not replace the wooden slats or remove the concrete setts?

The Donkin is the heart of Port Elizabeth! The little town was built around it! Sir Rufane Donkin gave the town the land in his will and made the condition that nothing else would be built there.

Surely this town has lost pride in itself? Surely the terraced houses could be finished and fixed up?

PAUL ROWE, PE