Anger over pool closures

CITY residents have been left hot and dry after six public swimming pools have been closed owing to them turning green.

The Meerensee, Empangeni, eSikhawini, Ngwelezana, Enseleni and Aquadene pools have been shut down because the municipality has run short of chlorine during the busy festive season that saw more than 2000 bathers visiting the pools daily.

To address the concerns, a public meeting was held at the Empangeni pool on Wednesday, chaired by the Deputy Municipal Manager for Community Services, Thandiwe Mathebula, alongside eight municipal officials, including the managers from traffic and community safety.

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Tempers ran high as around a dozen residents addressed longstanding concerns about recurring problems and safety at the facilities when they are open.

‘Why is it that this is a recurring problem every year? This has been the case for five years. Surely the municipality should be able to plan for more chemicals to be ordered knowing how busy the festive season is,’ said one annoyed resident.

‘If supply of chlorine is a problem, why has the municipality not approached local pool companies? Why are we ordering from Durban instead of supporting local businesses?

‘For most of the holidays our children have not been able to use the pool.’

‘If the pools are maintained then we would not have to spend more money on fixing problems.’

The municipality is set to spend close to R70 000 to get the pools up and running again.

People who bought season tickets now demand refunds of over R500.

‘Some of us are training for the Midmar event and we have lost out on valuable training time because of this. If we are stupid enough to buy tickets again this year, will we have the same problem?’ asked an upset resident.

Safety concerns

Issues of community safety outside the pool were also raised because of partying, littering and overcrowding at the Empangeni pool.

‘Drunk people park and hang out next to the pool and women are accosted when they arrive to swim.

Furthermore, the pool is so overcrowded that if a child drowns, no one would notice.

Mathebula said the problem arose because the buying process was not finalised with their supplier in Durban after they were awarded the tender.

When the tender was advertised for pool chemical suppliers, no local companies applied.

‘We hope to get the chemicals this week so that we can sort out the problem. Going forward we would like to advertise the tender for three years instead of re-advertising every few months to avoid these issues.’

The residents were advised that the municipality would work on determining what the capacity was at all their pools and restrict access when it was reached.

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