Went to South Africa once when I was a teenage rebel in the Merchant Navy, in the late 70's. Loaded up with Outspan oranges and grapefruit, 7000 tons of them, for Trieste and Marseille. The two loading ports were Durban and Port Elizabeth. Spent my 17th birthday in a pub in Port Elizabeth, and my memory of Port Elizabeth is that it was a bit non-descript.
Durban on the other hand had a long beach with a fun fair. One of my shipmates decided to chat up a young lady in a pub near the docks in Durban. This didn't go down well with her boyfriend; who together with some of his mates set upon the small group of guys from my ship. One ended up hospitalized and lost an eye. To be fair, the same thing could have (and did) happen at any pub near any docks throughout the world in the 70's and beyond. However, Durban was one of the few places I have visited where I felt uneasy, even in a group. And I spent my youth in Kingston, Jamaica, which is hardly known for it's love and welcoming of strangers!