Durban — There are plans for Pietermaritzburg’s popular Showgrounds, but no one is spilling the beans yet about what’s in store at the site which hosted major tourism and entertainment events for decades.
Funfairs, music festivals and agricultural exhibitions brought to the city by the annual Royal Agricultural Society’s Royal Show are history.
The society staged the final show last year before packing its bags to relocate to Mount Verde Estate in Hilton, about 14km from the CBD.
The property is now owned by Vu-Tact Trade and Invest, a company that includes Pietermaritzburg businessman Robert Alexander.
Architect Nick Proome, founding director of the Durban-based Elphick Proome Architecture company, said development had already begun.
He said the ground had been rezoned and had gone through an environmental impact assessment in preparation for the work ahead, and Elphick Proome had prepared a number of development plans.
“The nature of the development and any final development strategy is yet to be finalised,” said Proome.
The facility, which had been used as the Royal Agricultural Society’s Showgrounds for more than 120 years, had attracted thousands of fun lovers to Pietermaritzburg annually and generated millions of rand for the city every year.
For decades, the mid-year family and business show attracted families and school bus trippers.
Royal Agricultural Society CEO Terry Strachan said the showgrounds were not sustainable in terms of logistics and revenue generation, which was “no longer satisfactory to meet the requirements”.
Strachan said the CBD rates were too high, adding that various showgrounds activities contributed more than R300 million to the city annually.
“Ultimately the decision was made that we had to move to a facility that was more fit for purpose,” he said.
“It is going to focus exclusively on agriculture and we will no longer focus on entertainment, funfairs, rock concepts and all of those activities that have now fallen away.
“We are now focusing on livestock, agricultural equipment and produce,” Strachan said.
He said the relocation allowed the society to return to its roots, which began in 1851, as an agricultural society focused on agricultural events to promote and support agricultural logistics and to broaden knowledge.
He said because the farmers were not receiving financial support from the government, the Royal Agricultural Society could no longer afford the expense of operating at the showgrounds.
He said he imagined that the economic impact on Pietermaritzburg of the loss of the show would be quite significant.
“We have no control over that, as agriculture around the world is normally supported by the municipality, provincial and state governments. In South Africa that is not the case.”
Strachan said the organisation did not intend to make a profit at the new venue.
“We are a non-profit organisation with a focus on agriculture and we are more than happy if we could make a small surplus or, if not, at least break even,” he said.
Pietermaritzburg Chamber of Commerce and Business CEO Melanie Veness has fond memories of the show’s role in the city’s business promotion and families’ entertainment.
“It was always the time of the year that Pietermaritzburg had embraced because it had been a show that families could enjoy, schools have gone in numbers to learn more, and it was an opportunity for businesses to showcase their products and engage,” she said.
“Some of them (businesses) are opening shops in the surrounding suburbs, and we have lost some permanently (from the CBD) during the post-July (2021 riots) because they were not able to open again,” she said.
Veness said she wasn’t certain what would happen with the showgrounds.
“What I heard was that it was a mixed development, and more recently we have been told that it has been earmarked as part of a government precinct that is being developed in Pietermaritzburg.
“Until there is something concrete, I am not entirely sure,” she said.
Repeated attempts to contact Alexander and Msunduzi Municipality spokesperson Ntobeko Ngcobo for comment were unsuccessful.
Independent on Saturday