For many residents who grew up in Gqeberha, they will have fond memories of their misspent youth enjoying the St George’s Park swimming pool and usually a meander at Art in the Park on the weekend.
St George’s Park bought families together. Back then, it was a safe space for family fun and recreation. Not any more. And it hasn’t been for a number of years.
Unfortunately, our children will not have those same memories but if DA MPL Retief Odendaal’s ambitious R100m project to turn St George’s Park into a “recreational oasis for the people of Nelson Mandela Bay” comes to fruition, maybe the next generation will.
For a long time, the swimming pool has been an eyesore. It is an embarrassment to this city. When tourists come to St George’s to enjoy the cricket, they can see the absolute neglect from the stands.
How did we let this happen?
Odendaal, who visited the park on Wednesday, said the park could be transformed into a landmark green space that serves as a recreational facility, cultural hub, tourist attraction and gathering place for the whole city.
He said if the party was in government after the November 4 elections, it would spend R100m on revitalising the park.
Perhaps, with the long list of items requiring urgent attention in this city, restoring St George’s Park to its former glory is not on top of that list, but it is, indeed, a project that needs attention. And soon.
And many will say it is the government’s job to sort these things out, but if we wait around, nothing will get done.
We have let too many things slide, so now we find ourselves in this mess of a ‘broken city’.
We need to work with the local government. And it doesn’t matter who gets the praise or recognition — we just have to roll up our sleeves and get it done.
In saying that, municipalities do have a fundamental duty to deliver services, fix infrastructure and enforce bylaws.
However, civic pride is a practice, not just a policy.
We can’t sit back and watch our city fall further into rack and ruin. We need to stop being passive critics and become co-authors of our city’s future.