Durban’s Pavement Predicament: The Stalemate on Che Guevara Road

The scene along Che Guevara Road is one of Durban’s starkest contradictions. Just a stone’s throw from the bustling port and the city’s corporate heart, a sprawling “tent city” has taken root under the M4 highway. It’s a daily, visible crisis that boiled over this week in the eThekwini Executive Committee meeting, where frustration and futility collided.

Councillors are demanding immediate action, but the problem, like the encampments themselves, appears to be shifting rather than shrinking.

“They Are Causing Chaos”: The Business and Motorist Plight

The call for a swift clearing of the area came from DA Exco member Councillor Andre Beetge. His concerns were sharply focused on the economic and social disruption. He pointed out that this isn’t just any street. Che Guevara Road is a critical artery linking the Port of Durban to the city centre, and the encampments are now spilling into traffic lanes.

“They are causing chaos,” Beetge stated, highlighting complaints from the Umbilo business sector who say customers are being driven away. The description of homeless individuals knocking on car windows, making motorists “uneasy,” paints a picture of a major urban route in distress. It’s a similar story under the Connaught Bridge in Durban North, suggesting a pattern of displacement, not resolution.

The political pressure for immediate, tangible action was palpable. Another DA Exco member, Thabani Mthethwa, urged for measures to be taken within days. “We cannot have them as they stand with shacks in the middle of the road,” he argued, framing it as a defence of “the rights of the innocent law abiding citizens.”

A Game of Whack-a-Mole and a Search for Deeper Solutions

If the councillors’ frustration was clear, the response from the city’s leadership revealed the profound complexity of the issue. Mayor Cyril Xaba cut to the heart of the municipal dilemma. “Whenever the police disperse the homeless, they simply move to another spot nearby,” he said. This admission points to a draining game of whack-a-mole, where enforcement provides temporary relief but no lasting answer.

The Mayor pointed to a root cause that no municipal policy can easily fix: a “collapse and breakdown at family level.” When social structures fail, he noted, the problem inevitably lands on the municipality’s doorstep. His conclusion, “We cannot wait for other government departments to intervene,” signals a city feeling abandoned in its struggle with a national crisis.

Deputy Mayor Zandile Myeni acknowledged the situation was “bad,” confirming that efforts by metro police and the safer cities unit have so far been insufficient. Her mention that the city is “working on a policy to deal with the homeless” offers a glimmer of long-term planning, but provides little solace to businesses and residents dealing with the immediate reality.

The Unspoken Element: Addiction and a Citywide Spread

Adding a critical layer to the discussion, official Dumisani Bhengu from the Security Management Directorate identified a key driver often whispered about but rarely addressed in policy debates: drug addiction. His identification of this as a core problem amongst the Albert Park homeless population suggests that without tackling substance abuse, any relocation efforts are likely to fail.

Furthermore, Bhengu confirmed that this is not an isolated issue. The problem has spread to the beachfront dunes and the Virginia area in Durban North. This citywide sprawl indicates that the pressure on Che Guevara Road is just one symptom of a much larger, growing urban challenge.

The standoff in Durban is a microcosm of a struggle playing out in cities worldwide. It’s a clash of rights, a test of compassion versus commerce, and a glaring reminder that without coordinated, compassionate, and well-resourced strategies that address the root causes of addiction and family breakdown, the tents on Che Guevara Road may simply find a new pavement to call home.

{Source: IOL}

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