Letters from Underground

Letters from Underground

What does it look and feel like to live in an environment that’s slowly downgrading?
I’m speaking here about my current city — Pietermaritzburg.

I write this because of a recent and rather embarrassing failure by the municipality to maintain the city’s only stadium, the Harry Gwala Stadium. A team recently promoted to the First Division had to bring their own lawn cutters to clear the field before their match. That was embarrassing — and symbolic.

But back to the point: what does it actually look and feel like to live in this city — the so-called “capital city” of KwaZulu-Natal, and apparently, of South Africa?

Well, it feels like being in any other city in the country — perhaps even the world. Our feelings, after all, are within our control. But what does it look like?

It looks like any other city in South Africa: the poor growing poorer, while the rich continue to enjoy beautiful homes, drive beautiful cars, and access better services.

This is crucial, because I can’t confidently pinpoint the exact moment when the decline began — especially since I wasn’t here ten years ago. What I can accurately point to is the growing incompetence I observe daily: people throwing litter out of their car windows, inconsiderate drivers blocking traffic to chat with friends while others struggle to pass, professional soccer players disappearing into obscurity after impregnating university girls, and the spreading waste, drug addiction, and poverty in the inner city — all symptoms of an incapable municipality and indifferent government officials.

What I’m trying to communicate is that decline takes time, just like success. It takes repeated actions and reinforced beliefs, in a specific direction, to produce tangible results — whether for individuals, cities, or entire countries.

— Cancelo Alvarez