Durban - If you are a Durban resident or have visited the city, you may have come across the Stable’s Flea Market in the Umgeni area. It had a rustic feel, a place where you could spend the afternoon with the family or friends with good food and a cultural experience.
It had a distinct atmosphere that made you better understand what it was like to live in Durban. Cheap food, cheap drinks and warm smiles. What more do you need?
But the Stables Flea Market now looks like the set for the upcoming sequel to Will Smith’s I am legend. Like a ghost town.
This surfaced after a Durban resident took to Facebook to share his concerns over the dilapidating state of the former market, a place where small local businesses had a platform to earn a living.
Shad Nowbuth, a Durban resident, revealed the state of the area during a walkabout visit he conducted last month.
But reports from 2015 indicate that the area was going to be developed by Hoy Park and turned into a “state of the art” facility to help develop young footballers. But the project never materialised.
The question becomes: why would the city management close down a place that housed many businesses which contributed to our local economy to build a football academy?
Spokesperson for eThekwini Municipality, Msawakhe Mayisela, said the plans to develop the land are not off the table. He said the city ran into difficulties when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out.
Mayisela said that because the buildings are older than 60 years, permission is needed from Heritage KwaZulu-Natal or AMAFA. The AMAFA approvals have not been received yet, he added.
“The Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (SPLUMA) process to get the High-Performance Centre off the ground was also delayed in that EIA was not finalised.
There is one illegal tenant on-site, and this is creating another challenge in that the developer can’t start before this tenant matter is finalised in court.
“We can confirm that we have an investor in place, and he is busy with his professional team preparing building plans and sorting the subleasing issues with Hoy Park. Once the aforementioned issues are resolved, then the developer will provide a programme of action on the project, and this will provide the start date and finish date for the project.
“The new developer also wants to revamp the Stable Traders Market. He has shown interest in accommodating some of the traders as well and this has been supported by the Economic Development and Planning Cluster,” Mayisela told IOL.
Last month, it was reported that the traders from the Stables Market are still without a venue after the Durban High Court ruled they needed to vacate the premises. The city told traders that a new venue would be provided which has not been done yet.
Yaser Nasif, from Glen Eden Trading, the company which took the matter to court, said the municipality promised a new venue in 2014 when the football academy project surfaced.
“There has never been a relocation. There is literally nothing,” Nasif said, adding that the market had around 400 stalls.
Former eThekwini Municipality spokesperson and now head of communications at the city, Lindiwe Khuzwayo, said the municipality was not aware of such promises.
She said the municipality was a caring organisation and would not ruin the lives of its residents.