LETTER: We are no longer a tourist attraction here in Dundee

Editor –
Dalton Lindizwe Ngobese’s effort in London to promote the KZN Battlefields (reported on in the Courier of a couple of weeks ago) is to be commended. That is, unfortunately, not enough though.
Tourists who travel here from all corners of the world – well, in a previous life they did – should not be exposed to situations where rowdy locals have drink fests into the early morning hours, and the concomitant anti-social behaviour that goes with it.
The town is filthy and Willson Street (one of our primary CBD business streets) looks like a war zone. Illegal traders populate every big sidewalk in town.
If a tourist would endeavour to walk down Victoria Street into town and someone hassles him, or mugs him, no one is going to help him.
Law enforcement in this town is quite simply not remotely capable of combating the theft of copper cabling, which paralyses businesses in Dundee.
The resultant power outages create massive problems for accommodation establishments, and the chronic inability of this municipality to get our water into our pipes and taps (and keep it there) is another frustration.
How would you feel if you were a tourist who paid a fortune to get here, paid for a tour and accommodation, and could not be provided with at least water from a tap to brush your teeth, or flush a toilet, even if you have to do it in the dark….?
Or better yet, try and make the best of a touring weekend when you have to stay in a dump. The sooner we put in and enforce by-laws, the better, otherwise it is just a free-for-all which is just a tourist turn-off, never mind the people who actually live here.
J Hamman