eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda proved he wasn't chicken when he responded to a political challenge to swim at a Durban beach to prove water levels were safe.
Last week the DA responded to the city’s opening of several beaches — which were closed after dangerously high E coli levels — with a dare to the mayor to get in the water to demonstrate it was safe.
The city said it would have beaches open by December 1, despite several conflicting E coli readings in the past few weeks.
On Thursday, Kaunda, who was a no-show at the Umhlanga main beach where deputy city manager Dr Musa Gumede took a dip, put on his costume and goggles and enjoyed a swim at Durban’s North Beach.
He vowed to take a dip in all open beaches in the city to demonstrate that swimming was safe ahead of the festive season.
“I will be ready to swim in all the open beaches so we can observe that we don’t have challenges with our [open] beaches, people can come and swim it is safe. The quality of water is fine,” he said.
I don’t think they would take the risk of lying to the whole world. It would be a huge blow to them if they opened the beaches and tourists contracted sickness as a result. It would backfire in the long term, so I trust them.
— Oluhle Tenza
Kaunda was speaking at the city’s state of readiness and launch of the 2022 summer campaign at Durban’s North Beach.
Kaunda said they had partnered with independent laboratories, including Talbot, to run continuous tests and remove doubts of authenticity on results.
“We will constantly test the quality of our water, and we have agreed to compare and share our results publicly,” he said.
Kaunda announced that all beaches in the city were open except for Westbrook, Umdloti, Laguna, Winklespruit, Addington, Reunion and Brighton Beach. He vowed that those beaches would be open as soon as they return improved water quality results.
He said water quality had improved.
Deputy city manager Dr Musa Gumede had earlier taken a dip at the Umhlanga main beach to prove that point.
Gumede said there was no reason to keep the beach closed because the results had been consistently normal for more than a month.
“The results of this month have shown that all those beaches, including Umhlanga and Bronze beaches and Umdloti, are within normal readings. They have been since November 15, and we test twice a week. So we want to indicate to the public this beach is clear to swim at,” said Gumede.
He conceded there infrastructure challenges still persisted, particularly the reticulation system, but he said they had no impact on the Umhlanga beaches.
“We have seen videos of people working at Ohlange, but the current and flow of the river doesn’t affect this beach and Bronze Beach. Those issues will resolved within a day or two, but the impact on this beach is minimal,” he said.
“Work at most of the pump stations — including Ohlange — has been resolved. The reticulation is in progress, what they are finding in the pipes is a lot of sand, so they are unblocking the pipes.”
Despite Gumede taking the first swim, people who spoke to TimesLIVE Premium at Umhlanga beach gave contrasting reactions to those assurances.
Peter Mayfield, a businessman from Cape Town, said had been in Durban for more than two weeks, but swimming was still not an option for him.
“The state of Durban at the moment is very sad. How the infrastructure had deteriorated, even before the floods. He [Dr Gumede] may get in the water, but I wouldn’t even think about it. I guess it’s a personal decision,” he said.
Allie, who was with his family from Johannesburg, echoed similar sentiments.
“If you smell the air and the water it’s definitely not safe to get in. We’ve been here five days now, we’re not going into the water yet,” he said.
“I think the problem has existed for so long, it’s rather convenient they’ve come up with a fix so close to the festive season, and it’s because our country desperately needs the tourists, especially Durban. So what happens to all the people that will come here? They’re not going to chase them away. They are just playing politics.”
Oluhle Tenza said the city wouldn’t mislead the whole world, so he trusted their results and was ready to take to the beach.
“If they say it is safe to do so, then of course I will definitely take a dip because I don’t think they would take the risk of lying to the whole world. It would be a huge blow to them if they opened the beaches and tourists contracted sickness as a result. It would backfire in the long term, so I trust them,” he said.
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