There is just one bank, Wasbank, and it is critical
The hotel looks as faded as the sign, the once gracious railway station has been pulled apart brick by brick, the cattle and goats have the run of the town
Wasbank is a town in Umzinyathi District Municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Village on the Wasbank River, 25km southwest of Dundee. Takes its name from the Wasbank River.
That’s all you get if you type in Wasbank on the Internet and go to Wikipedia. To be frank. that’s all it deserves.
Following up on the expose on the conditions of the Wasbank Primary School, the Courier took a drive to the village with FC Bester of the Residents Association. Click here for gallery.
Farmers used to say ‘Daar is net een bank, Wasbank’ but right now if you live in Wasbank it is akin to some kind of ancient punishment.
The town is tired. The road markings are faded, most of the shops boarded up – save or Kabir’s Fruiterers, a bottle store, garage and one or two other shops.
The hotel looks as faded as the sign, the once gracious railway station has been pulled apart brick by brick, the cattle and goats have the run of the town. Dumping is rife.
Some of the roads are nothing more than farm tracks – although residents pay rates to Endumeni Municipality. There is a library next to the municipal office. It was closed when the Courier arrived. “It opens at 9am,” said a municipal employee who runs the Wasbank office.
However, it was 9.15am and still no sign of the librarian. There was load shedding this morning in Wasbank which added to the gloom.
The owners of Kabir’s Fruiterers who have been in Wasbank for just about ever say business has crashed since the closure of mines and the By Products factory.
The Post Office has more goats than letters. The only positive is that the clinic looks new and fresh. Perhaps the lovely scenery around the town is what keeps these poor residents sane.
