WHY fix what is not broken?
Well, that’s the question travel industry are concerned with, following reports that Southern Sun’s two major draw cards are to depart from Durban Beachfront.
Popular Elangeni and Maharani Hotels, will have to vacate the premises along the beachfront in 2025, because its lease to operate would have expired, thanks to the eThekwini Municipality, that owns the land on which the hotels operate.
The leases have been put out to tender by the municipality, Southern Sun, has confirmed.
Opposition parties are also having a filled day in office on this matter.
Southern Sun said it hoped to renew its land leases for the hotels.
“Over the last five decades, Southern Sun has invested considerably in these two hotels as well as in its others that line Durban’s beachfront. In the past 12 years alone, the group joined and upgraded the Southern Sun Elangeni and Maharani hotels, undertook the large-scale expansion of Suncoast Casino, renovated the Marine Parade and South Beach Garden Court hotels and rescued the Edward hotel.”
It added that it was one of the City’s largest ratepayers.
eThekwini Municipality’s spokesperson Gugu Sisilana said that the current leases were expiring in 2025 with no right of renewal.
“The Constitution and the law does not allow for leases’ renewal as that process would be deemed not to be fair, equitable and competitive.”
Sisilana added that the municipality acts according to the Constitution when contracting for goods or services.
“Section 217 (1) states that: ‘When an organ of state in the national, provincial or local sphere of government, or any other institution identified in national legislation, contracts for goods or services, it must do so in accordance with a system which is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective.’
”As prescribed by the Constitution, this is the process that the municipality will be following and will be finalised by June 30, 2024.”
She allayed fears to the public that they should not be worried as the process would not affect the festive season upon us.
“The process the municipality is undertaking will not affect any operations during the festive season as indicated.”
Various opposition parties are against the move and indicated the economy will be affected, so would be job losses.
IFP, DA, and EFF in the KwaZulu-Natal are having none of it; and have called for extensive consultation with the municipality as this would “cause major consequence to the industry that is on a recovery post the pandemic”.
“We can’t let what happened to the beautiful Hilton Hotel happen to other hotels,” warned ActionSA’s Zwakele Mncwango.
This goes back to my question; why fix what is not broken?
Image (Both the Elangeni and Maharani Hotels leases will not be renewed in 2025 that would result in economic meltdown).
