(This is the full version of an article first published in The Weekender.)

Holding onto Paradise

The proposed development of eMacambini will destroy the life of a rich rural community as well as one of KZN's most beautiful landscapes, writes Peter Machen

If you drive up the North Coast of KwaZulu Natal, you'll see what was once little than a series of small seaside towns gradually morphing into something that increasingly looks like Jo'burg. Currently the twin epicentres of this urban spread are Umhlanga and Ballito, but the virus is spreading around the province. It has already filled the once semi-rural suburbs of Hillcrest and Waterfall with strip malls and gated communities and threatens to take up wherever there is a beautiful view waiting to be destroyed.