Expansion

I understand that Mtunzini is due to grow - a lot! For decades it has been a quiet little retirement village. Most of the residents are retired and those who would otherwise live here, prefer to live in Empangeni or in Richards Bay - these centres are larger but the better shopping centres are in Richards Bay. I have found that Ballito is only slightly further south than is Richards Bay for shopping. It takes about an hour to drive to Ballito but takes 45 minutes to drive to Richards Bay,

Near to Mtunzini is the University of Zululand and I know that many of the professors from there, live in Mtunzini and commute daily!

I have recently found that I have reached an age where I have retirement annuity policies maturing! When I took them out just after I started work, it seemed like they would never mature. Now I have them maturing and I have to consider how to invest the proceeds.

I see that the best way is to purchase property - no matter what the government does, bricks and mortar are always there! In Zimbabwe, the economy imploded and the financial institutions went toes up! The only way to avoid this is to have bought property - although the State President has made sounds that no white man will ever own land there again. Locally, the leader of a minority party, has shouted that the same will apply to SA but he is not in power! I know that it was common in the capital city in Zimbabwe for investment in ferro concrete yachts. All they needed to get their capital out was to load it onto a truck and transport it to the coast!

Nearest coastline was at Beira in Mocambique - still called that and if the efforts of the colonial Portuguese was anything to go by, it still exists just as it was in the 1970's, the numerous potholes bigger and more in quantity.

My cousin was killed in Mocambique and not very long ago, a group of soldiers found the site the Puma was shot down. Buildings that had been damaged by FN rifle fire, had - 35 years after damage - not been re-plastered or even repainted!

My parents, brothers and I often went down to Beira to the sea. When it got too dangerous (terrorists aiming at tourists from then Rhodesia) we trekked to South Africa where we fell in love with Mtunzini and when we chose to leave Zimbabwe, we headed for Mtunzini and all males in our household, found work in Empangeni - and that was before the completion of the N2 Toll route!

It would be amazing to see if many of the attractions of Beira still exist! We used to stay in the Chalets at the Estoril but when we were last there, they were collapsing in the beach sand and there was a shipwreck on the beach that must have long since rusted away! I have the impression that these chalets have long since been swallowed up in the sea!

At the zoo in Beira is where I and my 2 brothers were bitten by a lion! Ruff was only about a month old and we only got temporary tooth marks on our hands and wrists - no blood and no scars - but I swear that I have been bitten by a real live, wild African Lion! Makes a great story, even if it was only playfully by a kitten!