Durban -The eThekwini Municipality has big plans for the Funworld site on the Durban beachfront.
The city was responding after concerns were raised by the DA about the poor state of the beachfront and municipal facilities in the area.
The DA lamented the closure of the Funworld amusement party and said during an oversight visit to the beachfront on Monday its officials had seen “dilapidated beach facilities, unusable municipal public paddling pools and a general decline”.
In response, eThekwini Municipality’s head of communications, Lindiwe Khuzwayo, said that the city was working on big plans for the Funworld site.
“The city is currently working on a tendering process to attract developers to upgrade the FunWorld site in line with the zoning of the beachfront. The entire precinct’s look is to be upgraded to meet world-class standards of modern theme parks.”
Khuzwayo added that the property would be going out to tender this year to invite proposals for redevelopment.
“Anyone who has seen theme parks in other parts of the world knows that the current Funworld looks nothing like what theme parks look like in other parts of the world. The cancellation of the lease by the operator is a great opportunity to establish on that site a facility that Durbanites and visitors to eThekwini can be proud of.”
Khuzwayo added that the beachfront was well used every day by Durbanites and visitors for swimming, surfing, jogging, walking dogs, cycling and other activities.
“The highly debatable refrain about the so-called poor state of the beachfront can only be meant to discourage visitors. The question then becomes who stands to gain from any narrative that seeks to destabilise Durban’s tourism sector? It is certainly not the business people and employees who depend on this sector for their livelihoods.”
In response to the DA saying the beachfront was largely empty on Monday, Khuzwayo added that due to it being autumn, conditions would not always be ideal for swimming.
“Regarding the tree branches seen in the images shared, the shedding of branches and leaves is a natural process of vegetation during this time of the year, especially given how windy the beachfront area is. We have staff members who are responsible for the removal of the leaves as they fall and for cleaning the entire beachfront area. For every photo with fallen leaves, there are many others of a pristine beachfront.”