WHETHER it was a case of waning interest or poor organisation, the three-day Sustainable Living Exhibition, hosted by eThekwini Municipality at the Durban Exhibition centre at the weekend drew much smaller crowds than previous years and saw the exhibition hall scattered with countless empty stalls.
Exhibitors said the poor showing may have been due to the ‘expensive’ registration fee.
“I wanted to join but R3000 for a stand for a small business is just too expensive,” said Lesley Du Toit.
Mzamo Shabalala said that the high number of art and crafts businesses outshined the ‘green’ aspect of the exhibition and made it difficult for a person to understand the purpose of the event.
“I am quite disappointed by the businesses that did not turn up because there are countless other people who could have used the opportunity in a better way. I have been attending the event for many years and was expecting a big crowd, especially since we experienced bad weather. This event is not useless, but if we don’t change the organisers, this event will become as useless as the other events we have,” said another stallholder who asked not to be named.
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In her opening address, eThekwini Mayor Zandile Gumede, said the exhibition like all other programmes, is envisioned to also contribute towards achieving Radical Economic Transformation through providing citizens with an opportunity to actively participate in the economy through providing innovative ideas on sustainable living mechanisms whilst acknowledging the need to address climate change and sustainable development.
“I would like encourage everyone present here this morning to adopt a sustainable lifestyle and play their role towards reducing the adverse impacts of climate change. We must continue with efforts of awareness on environmental issues and addressing climate change impacts. We must also be reminded that it all begins with sharing knowledge with the next person in order to yield the required change towards achieving a sustainable City and sustainable lifestyles for our citizens,” said Gumede.
The city has hosted the Sustainable Living Exhibition for the past eight years in an effort to promote a culture of green, sustainable, environmentally friendly lifestyles.
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