Golden Mile the next golden goose?

Durban is expecting almost a million visitors during the coming holiday season amid concerns about increasing crime, grime and urban decay in especially the central business district and on the beachfront.

“The current state of urban decay is not conducive for businesses,” says the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI).

There is further concern about the long-term prospects for the city after it came to light that it is not only the leases of the iconic Southern Sun Elangeni and Maharani hotels that hang in the balance – the eThekwini metro is reconsidering the leases of a total of nine beachfront hotels.

Earlier this year the well-known Durban Funworld closed after the metro refused to honour an undertaking to enter into a new lease with a prospective buyer of the business. Owner Nic Steyn said at the time the urban decay that had engulfed eThekwini in recent years chased away customers and eventually made the establishment unsustainable to hold on to.

The site is still standing empty.

Investors will ‘want clean beaches’

According to Andre Beetge, DA member of the eThekwini executive committee, the metro hopes to sign up international four- and five-star hotel brands as part of an extensive renewal programme – but as independent tourism advisor Gillian Saunders points out, “international groups also want clean beaches”.

The DA is also worried that the ANC, which governs the metro with the support of the EFF, will get too involved in the renewal project.

Beetge says nationally well-established companies have been unable to survive under the ownership or management of ANC affiliates.

“Corruption is simply too attractive,” he says.

Leases

According to Southern Sun, the metro made the Elangeni and Maharani leases available in the 1960s. In the next decade Southern Sun obtained the lease for the Elangeni and built the hotel at its own cost.

In the 1980s the Tollman family started developing the Maharani, but became financially distressed. Southern Sun then took over the lease and finished the building.

The leases, which have since been consolidated, stipulate that the sites, with all the improvements, fall back to the metro at the end of the period, in this case at the end of 2025.

“They effectively get the buildings for free in exchange for renting out the land over the years,” says Southern Sun.

As is often the case, the rent payable is minimal as an incentive from the metro to encourage investment and development.

Last month the metro issued a tender for new leases for the Elangeni and Maharani. It closes on 8 March 2024.

Southern Sun says it is evaluating the tender “and seeing if it is viable” but notes that it has “concerns that the city overestimates what it inherits at the end of the lease”.

“They get land and structure, not a going concern,” it says.

Southern Sun is entitled to remove all the equipment and furnishings, which means the metro will get a bare building if it comes to that.

Saunders says Southern Sun, the largest hotel group in the country, owns other property on the beachfront as well, and was a good tenant that played a big role on the beachfront.

Southern Sun says it is probably the largest investor in the beachfront, “having spent close to half a billion rand renovating the various hotels we own along the strip including these hotels over the last 12 years”.

It also owns the Garden Court South Beach and The Edward on freehold titles, and leases the Garden Court Marine Parade from a third-party owner.

The hotel group says the beachfront has been deteriorating, particularly post Covid.

“It’s fixable if the city just does regular cleaning, maintenance and enforces the bylaws against things like public drinking. Security is also addressable if there is the will to do so. It’s not a large area.”

The group says the metro needs to deal with all these leases in the correct legal manner and is doing so.

“The risk to the city is if they botch the process through unrealistic expectations or allowing unqualified people to capture these properties that do not or cannot fulfill the promises they make in their bids, the beachfront will die.

“It’s a very important time in the history of Durban and the decisions made now will have an enormous impact on the city going forward.”

Water quality

The DCCI says it is pleased to note that most of Durban’s beaches have been opened.

Sampling done on 30 November jointly with the NGO Adopt A River, a non-profit organisation whose samples are tested by an independent laboratory, Talbot, show “excellent” and “acceptable” beach water quality levels confirming that it is safe to swim.

The three river sites (shown in red) are along the lower Umgeni River near Umgeni South Beach, which is a non-bathing beach. This therefore has had no impact on swimming beaches, the metro said.

In the meantime the DCCI says the problem in Durban is not limited to the beaches – “it is ageing infrastructure that requires urgent upgrades and maintenance”.

“We believe the solution lies in a well-coordinated public-private partnership.”

The organisation says it has raised several concerns with the city regarding the issue of crime, grime, and urban decay in the CBD and along the beachfront.

“We are actively lobbying and hosting robust discussions with the City for more favourable conditions.

“The current state of urban decay is not conducive for businesses. There is an urgent need to explore ways to encourage and stimulate economic activity in the CBD.”

Hopeful signs

The DCCI noted however that eThekwini Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda has unveiled 62 new metro police vehicles.

“We are confident that this will help increase the visibility of police.”

Kaunda on Tuesday (5 December) also visited the city’s CCTV camera control room.

The system was upgraded over the last three months to ensure that the cameras in the CBD and other crime hotspots are operational over the festive season.

According to the metro the upgrade of technology of the surveillance cameras will also improve traffic flow management, emergency response times, and the overall deployment of critical municipal resources.

New CCTV installations have been made in critical areas and crime hotspots.

“The business sector also stands to benefit from the city’s security camera upgrade as they can tap into the system by integrating their cameras to ours and vice versa to view a criminal incident,” said Kaunda.

“The roll-out plan will see CCTV cameras expanding to residential areas, including townships and suburbs. We also call on communities to work with the city and all law enforcement agencies in the fight against crime.”