Churches’ knickers in a knot over nude beach

A battle over “drooping boobs and buttocks” might lead to the Hibiscus municipality having to explain itself to the public protector.

The municipality might need to justify its authorisation of KwaZulu-Natal’s first legal nudist beach after a group claiming to be made up of the congregations of 30 churches complained to Thuli Madonsela’s office.

Madonsela has yet to decide whether her office has the authority to investigate.

In an official approach to the municipality last month, senior investigator V Sikhakhane said the Concerned Citizens Group approached Madonsela and alleged that the SA National Naturists Association’s application to declare the 250m sandy stretch near Mpenjati Nature Reserve a legal nudist beach was not properly processed.

The group’s chairman, Reverend Mike Effanga, who claimed to represent 30 churches and thousands of church members in towns along the province’s South Coast, said the municipality failed to consult with communities affected by the decision.

Sikhakhane stated: “It is alleged that even where the public participation was done, it was only superficial as the municipality ignored and, in some instances, discarded the views that were expressed in opposition to the establishment of a nudist beach.”

At the first public hearing at Trafalgar in 2014, some residents were opposed to “drooping boobs and buttocks” on the beach while others wanted to bare it all.

The Concerned Citizens Group also alleged that the municipality violated existing bylaws by allowing nudists  to conduct a “trial run  of the naturist  beach” during the  Easter weekend last year.

According to the bylaws, “no person shall be on the seashore or in the  sea or any other place to which  these bylaws apply, other than a  booth,  toilet or change room, unless so dressed that, if a female, her nipples are concealed from view and, if a male or female, [their] private parts are concealed from view, and in each case by a suitable article of opaque clothing”.

Municipal spokesman Simon April yesterday said the municipality planned to send its response to the public protector by the end of next week. “Apparently there is no deadline for us to respond, but we are working on the response and we  anticipate that it will be sent  through before the end of next  we e k , ” he said.

April said the bylaw to allow nudity on the beach was in the process of being gazetted. Despite being warned by the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Nomusa DubeNcube not to strip down until the new bylaw was finalised, naturists are baring it all at the as yet unofficial nudist beach.