More to it than meets the eye

Iwrite this letter in response to the article in the ZO of Monday 12 February - ‘City won’t relent on club rentals’.

It was amazing that your reporter even got a response from the city.

Anyway, this is beside the point. I am a black citizen of this city (and proud of it), I have managed as an entrepreneur to establish a business in the area and am a member of one of the targeted recreation clubs situated on the waterfront in Richards Bay.

Prime estate, there is no doubt - but as ALL of these clubs target water sports of one type or another, that is the reason they are where they are.

Yes, they are all NPOs as well - and they are all self-supporting, raising funds as they see fit, so as not to be a burden on the municipality, as other clubs now are. Since when is a municipality the main sponsor of a club? Surely their main duty would be to supply adequate facilities for clubs to operate, not provide the money for the sports club to function.

And if they do supply money for one club, surely it should be the same across the board for all clubs.

But no, as usual with this dispensation, they again target something that is working, drawing, athletes, fishermen and sailors (both national and international) who will bring money to the city, and who are basically self supporting - across all ethnic groups.

The premises these clubs occupy will probably be vacated, and what will take their place?

Rack and ruin - vagrants will move in and the once vibrant premises, which have all, without exception, hosted international visitors, will fall into disrepair.

By the way, club members’ money was used to erect many of the buildings on these premises - does the city have enough to recompense these people?

There are plenty of other pieces of land which could be used to develop, and this has been tried over the last number of years - to what success? None!

So, these properties will once again revert to bush and there will be just about nothing to encourage visitors to this area, as well as locals to keep fit at one or more of these clubs.

SIPHO