Optimal use of prime real estate

February 2017

We look back with nostalgia to the days when the idea for this website came into being.

The idea then was to suggest and promote a development at the Durban Point that would showcase multiple facets of the local community and natural resources, and to ensure a place for the water sports clubs within this development to thrive and also to contribute – by way of training and hosting national and international water sport competitions – to Durban and its future.

Little did we realise the enormity of what was at stake and the opposition that would rise to counter our humble objectives.

It is important  – more now than ever – to refresh the site, and to provide a space where members of the water sports clubs and the public can air their views and follow events as they unfold.

Unfortunately, some of the news we have to share is difficult to digest, and even more difficult to believe!  But it is what it is, and Durban and its water-babies need to find a way to come through this together, and prevent its heritage and its water sports from falling into ruthless and greedy hands.

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July 2015

Save Our Sunshine Durban proposes the development of the Durban Point Academy, offering courses such as Maritime studies, Film-making and Music, Architecture, Environmental Sociology and Sport Administration, thereby allowing Durban to show off the best of her charms while nurturing and growing the local community.

Such an institution at the Point will furthermore draw international interest, visiting lecturers, exchange students and boost employment both during the construction phase and in the long term by creating jobs and opening doors for students of the institution.

The properties at the Point will be in high demand as accommodation for staff and visitors. Working from the Academy outward, student projects could focus on rebuilding the city, creating sustainable job opportunities, making urban spaces safe and friendly and eradicating poverty.

The current water sport clubs could be incorporated in the institution as part of the training that it offers and as recreation for staff and students. In addition to continuing with its usual activities for its members, the water sport clubs will be able to host international competitions using the academy’s campus as its base.

The global value system is changing away from high-rise sky-scrapers enriching and pampering a few, to an awareness of the importance of caring for the environment and growing healthy, integrated communities.

A home-grown, organic center of excellence in Durban and specifically at the Point will make the most of Durban’s unique qualities and character and add value to the lives of visitors and locals alike.

Instead of becoming another failed building site, Durban Point could become the trendsetter in showing how healthy cities could grow.

We believe that Durban will not be happy with anything less.

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This website was created in response to the Ethekwini Municipality’s invitation to the public to provide feedback on the proposal for rezoning of the Point waterfront.

This invitation and an article in the Mercury on 15 July 2015 showing an artist’s impression of the proposed developments, follow Tony Carny’s article in the Mercury of 10 June 2015 and which also provided details of the proposed development.

There may be a need for a vehicle by which the public could share information, express their opinion, and discuss the proposed rezoning and development.

Other efforts to create such a facility may be starting up elsewhere, and the saveoursunshinedurban domain hopes to contribute to creating a coordinated and informed public response to the invitation from our municipality.

We have till 12 August 2015 to respond, so let’s start talking.