Why I chose East London over every other city in RSA

Born and bred in East London, I have spent more than half of my life living away from my home ‘town’, but returned 5 years ago and have never looked back.

For many years people have loved to laugh at East London, call it funny names (I don’t find ‘that’ name funny or enduring at all and won’t even mention it in this article) and value it less than the other cities in South Africa.  I however am not one of those people.

Make no mistake, leaving a very good job, lovely home and the city I loved was not easy and choosing where to go was always going to be a big decision.  My decision to also leave the stability of a good corporate job to become an entrepreneur was scary… but exciting, so moving to a tiny little village in the middle of nowhere was out of the question.  I needed to move to a city with great opportunities and the obvious choice for me was to move to East London… and this is why.

The city with a small town feel

As the smallest city in South Africa, we have the benefit of being a city without many of the daily problems larger cities experience.  I have spent more years than I am willing to admit to in Johannesburg, a beautiful (Joeys is the largest man-made forest in the world), big (it sure is), bustling (verrrrry busy), bad (maybe a little naughty) city.

I enjoyed the fast pace, the corporate buzz, the modern roads and infrastructure and the hectic lifestyle… it was all very exciting.  Exciting yes, but eventually the constant pressure of it all wears you down.  Commuting in stop-start traffic for 4 hours a day, the never ending pressure of the corporate world, the constant noise and the close ‘compound’ style living eventually looses it’s excitement and I, like many others needed to escape.

My bolt hole of choice… East London, where the heart is.  I admit, my first reason to return here was the fact that my family is based here, and why not… is that not the best reason of all?  My second, was to leave the corporate world behind and try something new and exciting… and where better to be an entrepreneur than in East London, the city with the highest % of self-employed in South Africa.

My third was to get back the 4 hours a day of my life which was being lost… sitting needlessly in traffic.  My home office in East London has given me a whopping 225 extra days in the last 5 years just by removing my daily commute (4 hours per day x 5 days per week x 54 weeks per year x 5 years = 5400 hours)!

Here I can do business but still stay in touch if need be.  We have an airport and are easily connected to the rest of South Africa so isolation is not a problem.  Even though we are a city which is what I needed for business, we still have that ‘small town’ feel… and THAT is why I chose East London over Johannesburg… the powerhouse capital of South Africa, to make my new home.

An affordable city with a great lifestyle

I clearly also had to consider the beautiful mother city of Cape Town.  Who wouldn’t want to go there you may ask?  Well, I for one.  Not because it isn’t beautiful… it absolutely is!  Not because I could not become the entrepreneur I wanted to be … because there is ample opportunity to make your own unique mark in that city, as so many others have done.

So why did I not choose Cape Town?  Well for one, I was trying to escape the constant hustle and bustle of Joeys… and the 225 days I wanted to claw back would have disappeared in a puff of smoke in Cape Town.  The mass migration to Cape Town has resulted in many ‘not so small’ inconveniences, one of which being the bumper to bumper traffic wherever you go.  Without the modern infrastructure of Johannesburg, the traffic snarls in Cape Town have become legendary.

My second reason was that I could not ‘afford’ to replace my Joeys home with one of equal calibre in Cape Town.  The property prices are on average 40% higher there and moving to Cape Town meant taking a big backwards step in terms of my standard of living.  I just could not see myself moving from a beautiful home with garden and pool to a one bedroom flat overlooking a parking lot… why would I?

The final nail in the coffin for the beautiful mother city of Cape Town was the fact that the city’s natural resources such as water are running out… fast!  Residents are as we speak being restricted to 25 litres of water per day.  Sounds OK until you work out that it takes 8 litres of water to flush a toilet (do the maths)… and THAT is the final reason why I chose East London over the gorgeous city of Cape Town.

Our lovely, moderate climate

So why not move to the lovely tropical coastal city of Durban?  This holiday paradise should have been a no-brainer as it has almost everything one could wish for.  As a city it offers the entrepreneur opportunities I was looking for.  The traffic, while quite busy, is nowhere near the congestion experienced in both Joeys and Cape Town, however the 225 days bonus living I was hoping to reclaim would probably be reduced to 100 days if this had been my city of choice… quite a bit less than the 225 but an improvement none the less.

While property in Durbs is not cheap it is comparable to Joeys and I would more than likely have been able to maintain the same standard of living as I had in Johannesburg, so that was certainly not a deciding factor.  The beaches are beautiful and coming from inland, that was a huge draw card… so why did I not choose Durban?

Well there is only 1 reason… but for me it was a BIG one.  H U M I D I T Y!!!  February in East London is bad enough, but the humidity in Durban is all year round and an absolute killer!  I for one could never handle it… EVER.  In the end, the lovely home, swimming pool and beautiful beaches would have never seen hide or hair of me as I would have had to live indoors in an air-conditioned room, 24/7… 365, defying the reason for moving to the coast in the first place.  And THAT is why I never chose the lovely, holiday, coastal city of Durban.

So 5 years down the line after choosing East London over 3 of South Africa’s top cities as a place to call home and start my own business, was it the right decision?

The answer is ABSOLUTELY, without question!  This is not just my heart speaking but my head.  It has been hard work… but I have never been scared of that.  I believe that I made 3 brilliant choices (if I may say so myself) and that is why it has worked.

First, I chose family.  If you are lucky to have a supportive family and have the opportunity to be nearer to them… do it!  Mine are my rock. They have supported me throughout my exciting journey and have helped carry the load when times were tough.

Second, I chose a job that I love so much, the long hard hours don’t feel like hard work.  I was looking for opportunities and found these in abundance as East London is an untapped well with so much opportunity for growth.  These opportunities are only going to increase with the construction of the new N2 highway and bridges between here and Durban, opening up the Wild Coast and Transkei and reducing the travelling distance between East London and Durban dramatically.

Last but by no means least, I chose lifestyle and this is where East London comes into it’s own.  I was able to maintain my living standards and have a lovely home which did not break the bank.  I live a far less stressed life, get to go out and enjoy our lovely beaches, cafes, markets and activities more than I ever had time to do in Johannesburg.  I have gained back 225 days in the last 5 years (time spent commuting in Johannesburg) and these have been spent building my business or taking leisure time for myself.  Through my business and my free time I have visited and seen more of East London in the past 5 years than I did of Johannesburg in more than 25 years.

I now consider myself a true East Londoner… so much so I am now even moaning about the 16h30 traffic on Old Transkei Road… I can only imagine what my gridlocked, traffic jammed, jealous Joburg friends would have to say about that!

Article & Photographs:  Sandy Loppnow