This is all about Durban I have found






























[img]http://www.southafrica.info/cm_pics/ess_info/690-0-0-0_216422.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.southafrica.info/cm_pics/ess_info/690-0-0-0_216416.jpg[/img]







































oooo, why can´t shops in Nigeria just look so orderly?







































inside a shopping mall


















N[b]ew Durban highrise projects:[/b]

that was awesome! i ve also known SA was a cool place for a vacation, humm seriously thinking about it now @constatin what about jo'burg( guess am in love with that city eh)

it looks like manhattan mada fact it looks better than manhattan

The skaters are HOT!

Wow! thats Africa! how did Nigeria get it so wrong!

I really need to see that place, beautiful!

that is the place in africa to go

I thought that South Africa was beautiful, but did not know that it was glamourous. thank you for putting africa on the world stage. naija is talking and SA is working

adconline you got that right, you took the words right out of my mouth

Where did the West African Countries went wrong ?? South Africa is incredibly beautiful. Wouldn't it be beautiful if every country in Africa would look like that ? 

Hi guys,

I think we should give Nigeria sometime and things will get up to speed. I heard that the tallest Highrise is been proposed for Abuja. I hope that it gets constructed soon. If you go to www.skyscrapercity.com, under African forum, you will see that there are plans in place to uplift Nigeria.

The problem with  our African countries is that they leave the place to be dilapidated first and then after they want to fix it and it costs more. I'm a South African and even though I haven't been in Nigeria, I must say that I will be glad being one of the Super Powers in the World.

Jah, Durban is beutiful. I went there the past weekend to watch Manchester United playing one of our local teams.

I have attached the design of the 2010 Soccer Stadium. Constraction will be starting in September or so. They are busy with dismantling the other existing stadium, but they will leave the rugby stadium.


The guys in Durban mean business. Here is King Senzangakhona Stadium for 2010 and beyond.

Beautiful pictures. I did not realize that South Africa is this beautiful. It even looks nicer than some parts of America. Nigeria, sorry, I gotta admit does not come close to being as glamorous as South Africa, not even Abuja. And I was the one who used to say that Victoria Island/Ikoyi (call it ethnocentrism) was the most sophisticated locale in West Africa. Heard even Abidjan beats it. Momsie confirmed that Nairobi is far nicer than VI/Ikoyi.

As for those turning Abuja into a showpiece, may I ask, what about oil producing areas of Nigeria that have been relegated to the back door in favor of grandiose projects in the North. That is not fair. Lets divide the National cake equally.

Durban is very beautiful, but you are only seeing the nice buildings, the tourist attractions. Behind this city is a sea of Crime. Unfortunately, it has a very high death and violence rate. A person is mugged/robbed every 30 seconds in Durban. Nightlife is a nightmare if you're single. The streets are dirty, and public transport isn't always on time. Ten years ago, it was paradise, but it's turned into a monstrous place to live in.

By all means, I don't want to breakdown my city, but even I won't go out at night anymore. I live in the better part of the city, and my house has been broken into at least 4 times. The cops have only showed up once! I'm not being singled out, and I'm not white. I am black and proud,  But Even I got robbed on the corner of smith and West Street, by 3 black men. I guess they didn't kill me because I'm a brother. Normally they would not just rob you but at night you stand a fair good chance of being killed and rapped,  and not in that order.

By all means go visit; there are some beautiful places,  Just watch your wallet, and your life. Don't take my word for it, come here and experience it yourself.

Also, see this video of West Street. a Shopkeeper has a CCTV camera which shows how someone is mugged and the cops don't do a thing about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFN8WDEe6BE&mode=related&search=

Like our esteemed Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula said "if you don't like it, pack your bags and leave".
Read:  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/foreigndesk/detail?blogid=16&entry_id=6050
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwXSIDp3RSM&mode=related&search=

It's just not what it used to be, and everyone fears for their lives as these brazen outlaws roam the streets. We can't own guns, as it's against the law, so you can't protect yourself. You can't make a citizens arrest because you'll get killed. It's a lawless country. The middle class people are really trying to make a go of it, black & white together!! But we're all victims nowadays, not just the minority 2% white people,  we're all suffering.
I just hope, by a miracle, we'll get a new leader and new Cabinet one day, because we've lost confidence in the ANC.

I wish you all well, and if you do come to Durban, please watch your back, coz the cops won't.
Cheetah 

Looks nice, but my only reservation is that you could be in spain or Florida from those pics, I want to be in a place and KNOW I am in Africa, modern Africa.

I will visit one day, maybe not Durban but definately Cape town.

Oh My Goodness!!! are those pictures really from southafrica, looks like paradise

I found Cheetah32's comment to be completely unfounded. Might have been true in the past but now there is a huge police presence in and around Durban's streets. Where did you get that every 30s statistic? I live in this city and there is a huge clean up operation to rid it of bad buildings.

so which one do we believe? cheetah32 saying 10y ago it was better or yours 10y ago it was bad,

anyway, i will love to visit. it's so beautiful. by the way, i like those Pepper and their names are hilarious 'mother inlaw exterminator'' lol i guess it's hot like ''nigeria Atarodo' or Ata wewe,  (both are hot pepper)

good job poster.

Ultimately omoge, you will believe what you want to believe. All I can tell you about is what I see happening on the streets and how I feel when I walk there, and like I said before, I feel much safer.

I just dont like it when people go out there and make up statistics. I'm an avid reader of newspapers and watch news everyday, but I am still yet to come across that 30s statistic!

Oh, and please don't get me wrong, I didn't say that 10 years ago it was worse and now its just a bed of roses. I cant vouch for that coz I wasnt a citizen at the time. Btw, I've never met a people so proud of their country than Nigerians. You guys are always proud even though some things might not be going well. Wish South Africans were more like that.

thanks@sobza, for your observation/comment of Nigerians love for their country.

.

Have to agree with you there, Nigerians are some of the proudest nations i have ever met.
Also some of the most enterprising people i have ever seen in Africa.

Having said that, i would urge anyone looking to visit SA not to be deterred by all this negativity
i see on this thread. The crime is perhaps just as bad as say Lagos if you take some precautions.

There are a lot of Nigerians in South Africa and i am pretty sure they will give you a different story.
You do have to watch out when you are in Joburg. If you want to be in a more relaxed city then
i would recommend Cape Town which is relatively safe. Although it feels more European than Joburg
in terms of its racial mix. When i have time, i will give you a bit of a background to help you unravel
the complexity of the country that is South Africa. You will see that after all its simply a normal country
that is going through its own painful transition with its own unique challenges much like Nigeria.

ok, now i have some time to respond. First let me deal with the issue of crime in SA

- Crime is a big problem in Joburg (biggest city), Durban (to some extent), Pretoria (not that much)
- Cape Town is probably the safest city in South Africa at the moment
- make sure you have someone who knows the place to take you around.
- people won't smile to you if they don't know you, because of crime no one trusts any stranger

- The reason for crime in SA is very complex, but it has to do with some of the following things:-

- poverty among blacks in the midst of riches (SA is the 18th largest economy in the world with a GDP of
$579 billion so there is a lot of money in the economy but this is skewed in favour of 10 % of the population
(i.e. whites) who controls 90% of the economy). The economy only creates skilled jobs (500,000 jobs were created by
the economy last year, but most of the poor are unemployed as they do not have the skills that the economy wants).

- illegal immigrants most of whom come into the country looking for jobs only to find that there
is none for the unskilled and resort to crime to survive. Now here things get very interesting
You find the bank robbers who are typically Zimbabwean, Mozambicans and South Africans,
or Crack dealers who are typically Nigerians and cellphone thieves who are South Africans
or Zimbabweans but working for Nigerian syndicates etc and rapists who are typically
South African. Perhaps SA is the only African country with 10 million illegal immigrants
from the rest of Africa and thus the problems this presents are unique.

- Corrupt police who are also plagued by mismanagement and incompetency. Most of the police
earn peanuts and so they are prone to being corrupted by criminals who dangle some carrots.

- Organized crime syndicates who work in the country organized by all sorts of people both from
SA, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and other Eastern Europe.

- Unlike most countries in Africa, there is a lot of loot to steal in SA (Consider the fact that there
are 700,000 new cars bought in SA - that is 60% of all new cars bought in Africa) and the new
government who were caught napping after a long celebration for the newly won victory against
apartheid woke up and found the criminals had already setup shop and looting like crazy.

I hope this will give you some perspective on the problem of Crime which is also part of the reason why
there is Zenophobia as the ordinary South African starts feeling like all these illegal immigrants are here to
destroy their country, cause crime, take "their jobs" etc. Obviously this is not always the case, but the reality
on the presents a really complex situation.

make una vex for our bad and corrupt leaders

what i would like to point out to people on this thread which i keep pointing to every person is that every country has its own problems.
There's no need for a pissing contest. Nigeria obviously has a lot of corruption which is holding the country back and poor infrastructure.
South Africa too has a fair share of its own problems. Crime, poverty, income inequality etc. So instead of Nigerians and South Africans
having a pissing contest, we simply have to acknowledge our own problems and get down to fixing them. Simple as that. I know that it might
be difficult for Nigerians to acknowledge that SA may be better in some respects than Nigeria, but Nigeria too is better than SA in some respects
too. Its just natural. So i find this pissing contest a little childish if you ask me. I have been to Nigeria and i know what its like there, and i could
right a lot of negative things about your country too if i wanted, but i just don't see the point, if you know what i mean.

this is not durban, its pretoria.

yes close to sunnyside,just on your way to the presidential office, but hey SA is a lovely place,good places,good clean women

re: 'yes close to sunnyside,just on your way to the presidential office, but hey SA is a lovely place,good places,good clean women' SA lovely, yea but not really sure about the clean women lol.

lagos today in nigeria looks really good.so does a number of nigerian cities.so you can't say that south african cities look way better thann some nigerian cities.now on average southern african cities look better but certain nigerian cities look very close to how good south african cities africa look.overtime nigerian cities will look closer on average to how south african cities look,i term of looking really nice,but there are some nigerian cities that look really nice now.some others look nice ,and some look ok.depending on what nigerian city you are talking about.
nigeria is rebuilding fast.lagos is alreadly looking different in many parts today .of course certain parts of lagos always look really nice,but now it's even better today and more parts are like that today.in time lagos overall will look even better in the future.lago is rebuilding,and it's even looking better overall now than abuja and abuja is a really nice looking city.to me both look better than london anyway.



nigeria wealth is close to southafrica now and oneday surpass it. not in income on average but in overall wealth.

IN SEEMS THAT LOWER INCOME DOES NOT MEAN POOR IN SOUTH AFRICA,IT'S MORE LIKE LOWER MIDDLE INCOME SO IN FACT THAN THE BLACK POOR IN SOUTHAFRICA IS AROUND 30% WHILE FOR THE OVERALL POOR POPULATION IN SOUTH AFRICA IS AROUND 20%.THE WHITE POOR HAS GONE UP AND THE BLACK POOR AS GONE DOWN.THAT'S GOOD NEWS TO ME.READ MORE BELOW.

[QB] IN FACT it will take time for the average black family to make as much as white but on thing is overlooked,the growth of the wealth has to get larger an the need for more ownership,but even if this gap closes there will still be those who were damage from the past and will never trust any system.whites are the small group and are highly educated so of course they would have %wise higher incomes than most in the country.even if most of the wealth was under control of blacks.it is not necessary for blacks has awhole to out do whites in the income department, or at least anytime soon.asians in the u.s. have higher incomes than whites in america on average but that does not mean they control the country or most of the land or businesess.




the facts so far-

[QUOTE]Originally posted by kenndo:
[QB] IN FACT it will take time for the average black family to make as much as white but on thing is overlooked,the growth of the wealth has to get larger an the need for more ownership,but even if this gap closes there will still be those who were damage from the past and will never trust any system.whites are the small group and are highly educated so of course they would have %wise higher incomes than most in the country.even if most of the wealth was under control of blacks.it is not necessary for blacks has awhole to out do whites in the income department, or at least anytime soon.asians in the u.s. have higher incomes than whites in america on average but that does not mean they control the country or most of the land or businesess.

just because you control the land or most of it or most of the resources does not mean you can't have much or most of the pie.it is other factors that come in to play.

blacks in england to better than whites and are called the asians of britian,whatever that mean.so it is not as simlple as certain folks try to make it.i guess you could anything on the computer to support your views.that is what you are about always talking and finding negative stuff.i am aware of the negative but when i post updated news for 2007 or 08 you give stuff from 2000 an earlier.i guess you do not believe in updates.i am done.bye
anyway-


Key findings: P0302 - Mid-year population estimates, 2007
The mid-2007 population is estimated at approximately 47,9 million. (The census figure for October 2001 was 44,8 million.) Africans are in
the majority (nearly 38,1 million) and constitute 80 percent of the total South African population.

Fifty-one per cent (approximately 24, 3 million) of the population is female.
The provincial estimates show that KwaZulu-Natal has the largest share of the population (approximately 21%), followed by Gauteng (20%).


Black S. Africans Benefit From Economy

Thursday September 27, 6:15 am ET

By Celean Jacobson, Associated Press Writer
Business in Soweto Booms As Black South Africans Reap the Benefits of Growing Economy /


"The Black Middle Class is a mirage,” a caller emphatically announced as I tuned into a radio talk show recently.
What was being discussed was BusinessMap’s recent research report BEE 2007 - Empowerment and its
Critics. The report analyses the number of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) equity deals that have taken



The Black Middle Class: fact or fiction?
Friday, 11 May 2007

"The Black Middle Class is a mirage,” a caller emphatically announced as I tuned into a radio talk show recently. What was being discussed was BusinessMap’s recent research report BEE 2007 - Empowerment and its Critics. The report analyses the number of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) equity deals that have taken place over the past year. However the interview didn't really focus on this aspect, but rather around whether a significant Black Middle Class was emerging in South Africa.

As many callers phoned in to say it was a mirage, as phoned in to say it was a reality.

Clearly it would be inappropriate to use as the measure the number of BEE deals brokered, but are there other measures that give real evidence of this emerging group of people?

Let's begin by agreeing that the middle-class is generally accepted as Living Standards Measures (LSM’s) 7, 8 & 9, families that earn between R6,880 and R12,647 per month. LSM’s are researched annually by the South African Advertising Research Foundation and range from Level 1 to Level 10 with Level 1 and 2 being extreme poverty, Level 3 being poor, Level 4,5 & 6 being lower income, Level 7, 8 & 9 being middle income and Level 10 being upper income.

The chart below was produced by the South African Advertising Research Foundation and illustrates how the demographics of families residing at each level have changed between 1994 and 2006.

SA Good News"The rich have become richer and the poor, poorer,” another caller announced as I listened further on the radio talk show. But the table above tells a different story. Yes, the richer have become richer, but the poor have not become poorer. On the contrary, it is estimated that some 500,000 families have moved out of LSM’s 1, 2 & 3 in to LSM’s 4, 5 & 6 and that some 400,000 families have moved out of LSM’s 4, 5 & 6 into LSM’s 7, 8 & 9. What has happened though is that the rich have become richer faster than the poor have become less poor. This was covered recently in the Sunday Times in a report which stated that South Africa is one of the most upwardly mobile societies in the world!

Is there evidence of this? Absolutely. Car sales in South Africa have gone from 365,000 new units in 2003 to 730,000 new units sold last year (2,000 new cars on our roads each day!). What’s more, eighty percent of the buyers were black. The sale of home appliances is also exploding and our property price improvement tops the global rankings. While there is a reasonable supply of houses in the R2m plus bracket at the top end, and in the R50 000 to R400 000 bracket at the bottom end, there is a chronic shortage of mid-priced houses - further evidence of a growing middle class. Once again, most of these aspirant owners are black. There are an estimated 23 million cell phone users in the country. The tax net has grown from 2.3 million taxpayers in 1994 to nearly 7 million today, and this is expected to grow to 10,5 million by 2010. Do the maths - the numbers indicate a growing middle class!

Need further evidence? Read the article in the FM entitled Soweto rising which tells us that there has been a huge economic turnaround in Soweto, most evident in the dramatic growth in retail space. Shopping malls are popping up everywhere, with more planned. Until about five years ago, infrastructural development and private investment was considered too risky. This perception changed when studies showed that the living standards of many blacks were moving up to the “middle class level”. Various malls around Soweto are now providing shopping and entertainment previously only available in the leafy suburbs.

Our economy is now growing at around 5%, whereas our population is predicted to stabilise at between 45m and 48m people over the next 20 years. (Our population is growing at less than 1% per annum, not because of HIV/Aids - although that has an influence - but mostly because of rapid urbanisation and improved education opportunities). Our economy is growing five times faster than our population and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out what the implications are. Most economists feel that our economic prospects will remain good for the next 20 years!

Clearly we still have a massive problem in respect of poverty in South Africa with at least 20% of our population languishing in LSM levels 1,2 & 3, but 10 years ago that number was approximately 40%. I have written much about poverty previously and I certainly do not underestimate the challenge that this presents. Having said that, the fact that the government spends R80bn a year on social grants, benefiting approximately 11 million adults and children “at the bottom of the pile” (surprisingly this is not taking into account when poverty levels are measured) must be factored into the "poverty debate", and “measure” for that matter.

Is a middle-class important in our fledgling democracy? Well, what is happening in South Africa, unlike many other African countries is that economic opportunity, as opposed to political connectedness, is increasingly being realised as an opportunity for prosperity. It is often said that in developing countries, politics drives economics, whereas in developed countries, the opposite holds true. Obviously, the greater the size of the middle-class, the more this pendulum will shift in favour of the latter.

It goes without saying that middle-class people have a lifestyle they wish to protect against the uncertainties of boom/ bust economic practice, rampant inflation and deteriorating currency valuation. Hopefully they will use their vote to ensure this.

The middle-class has a vested interest in the future, the future of their children, of schooling, of health institutions, of infrastructure, of political stability and of economic well-being. This creates upward pressure on delivery; better shops, higher quality entertainment, working infrastructure, good schools, safe amenities, and professional healthcare.

THIS IS WHERE JOBS FOR THE “LOST GENERATION” ARE CREATED.

The South African economy is increasingly becoming service oriented, only 12% of GDP is contributed to by the mining sector, and 20% of GDP by manufacturing. A substantial 68% of GDP is therefore contributed to by the services sector.

What kind of people are employed there? Skilled professionals.

What group of people is unemployed in South Africa? Largely unskilled people with a poor education, the "lost generation" as they are often referred to. How will they be employed? By middle-class people who have a requirement for the services they can offer as waiters, shop assistants, domestic helpers, gardeners, cleaners, security guards etc. (These may be considered to be ordinary jobs, but they do represent the first rung on the ladder out of the poverty trap and they do give the incumbents a real chance to give their children a chance. For more on this, read Jeffrey Sachs’ book The End of Poverty.)

It is often said that for every skilled person entering the economy between four and six unskilled jobs are created. That is why the growth of a middle-class is so important.

Various estimates indicate that our economy currently has a million jobs unfilled. (Wake up Home Affairs, go away those naysayers who argue that whites can't get jobs!). Imagine if these jobs could be filled in the next five years. Imagine how that would dent unemployment!

Is there a growing middle-class? Absolutely.

Is it the solution to poverty and unemployment? Only partially.

Is it good for our country? Fundamentally.

Will it continue to grow? Sure, provided we can produce the skills and maintain economic growth levels and between

between 4% and 6%.



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South Africa 2014: The Story of our Future
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South Africa: The Good News is South Africa's premier good news portal.


SA's big spenders drive economic growth

Wednesday, 07 November 2007
Over the past seven years South Africa’s black population has steadily risen in high income earning brackets
and has also become South Africa’s biggest spenders, aMarket Research (BMR).according to the University of South Africa’s Bureau of
The BMR’s integrated model of the South African population, labour market and income and expenditure
revealed that the white population still remains the wealthiest in the country. But the survey also shows some
parity between black and white income earners particularly in the R100K - R300K bracket. Blacks account for
1.4 million of this group and whites, 1.3 million. Project Leader Professor Carl van Aardt highlights this as an
indication of dramatic economic growth in the black population.
The report also shows that the black population leads the pack in household expenditure, spending R550

billion this year, followed by whites whose expenditure amounted to R506 billion
Van Aardt believes that the BMR’s investigation into income and expenditure is a more realistic assessment of
the affluence of South African consumers, the sophistication of the markets and a more comprehensive
estimate of the actual size of the country’s GDP and thus allowing for more accurate future projections.
We can expect South Africa’s current growth rate at 4.5% to sustain itself over the medium term due to the fact
for more accurate future projections.


“We can expect South Africa’s current growth rate at 4.5% to sustain itself over the medium term due to the fact
South Africa is a consumption driven economy and black consumers will keep growing,” says van Aardt.
Medium to long term growth will be driven by government capital expenditure as we progress towards the 2010
World Cup, explains van Aardt.
Van Aardt confidently states that South Africa is not headed in the direction of Zimbabwe. “The Zimbabwean
economy is dependant on basic commodities, agriculture and mining while the South African economy is very
diversified. Even if one sector took a knock there would be other factors in place to hold our economy together.”
Though we face positive prospects, van Aardt warns that some of South Africa’s biggest problems could
threaten economic growth. Both foreign portfolio and direct investment are vulnerable to crime. A loss in these

foreign investments could see South Africa experience a big “economic hiccup”.
The Human Sciences Research Council’s HIV Prevalence Report (2002 and 2005) showed that infections are
on the rise amongst the affluent and skilled. This is a major threat to the economy.

Though the number of historically disadvantaged South Africans moving into higher earning brackets is on the
increase, “the number of people in poverty has stagnated. We have people trapped in poverty,” says Van Aardt.
He attributes this to the skills shortage in South Africa and the mismatch between skills available and skills
required.

SA among world’s freer economies

Wednesday, 05 March 2008
Economic freedom in South Africa is considered to be higher than that of the world average, according to

Heritage Foundation’s 2008 Index of Economic Freedom.
With a score of 63.2%, South Africa’s levels of economic freedom are above the world average of 60.3%. South
Africa earned a global ranking of 57, making it the fourth freest economy of the 40 African countries that were
surveyed. The Africa rankings were topped by Mauritius (18), Botswana (36) and Uganda (52).
South Africa ranked higher than emerging market competitors Brazil (101), India (115), China (126) and Russia
134).


Blacks flourishing
SOWETO, South Africa - Black South Africans are reaping the benefits of a growing economy,
and at the heart of it is Soweto, where Nelson Mandela presided over the gala opening of a
multimillion-dollar mall yesterday. The sprawling township that was the center of the anti-apartheid
struggle is being transformed, with new houses, new parks and paved roads. [/QB][/QUOTE]


in time the wealth will be mostly controlled by blacks. alreadly there isa large black middle- class,and the black rick is as large or larger than the white rich.the black middle class i much larger than the white middle class in numbers.
crime is going down as well.are there still problems?yes but there is great progress. has the wealth increase more folks will will do better.

Most of these pictures were taken at the city center, the Nedbank was taken along West Street, there bank is not there along as Spur took it already.