- Manenberg‘The public pool is scheduled to reopen on Friday.
- It was closed for maintenance after rust flowed into it.
- Many residents say they no longer care if the pool is open or not.
The facility, which was closed for maintenance, will open to the public on Friday afternoon.
The locals were prevented from wearing it during the sweltering festive season.
Last month, dozens of residents illegally entered the facility, some throwing rocks at staff and threatening them after being denied entry.
At the time, Community Policing Forum (CPF) Chairman Vernon Visagie said residents saw the pool was “crystal clear” but couldn’t understand why it was still closed.
The pool closed for much-needed maintenance and was scheduled to reopen at the end of December, however that was halted after rust particles were seen flowing into the water.
During an impromptu visit by News 24, the pool filled with water while Cape Town officials cleaned the pool and its pumps.
A handful of lifeguards were also on site, preparing for the opening.
Staff member Faatiegha Valentine said the pool would open at 2:00 p.m. on Friday.
READ | Cape Town residents stone staff after being denied entry to ‘crystal clear’ pool
The CPF criticized the City for failing to communicate or update residents after the pool was illegally broken into last month.
“The City decided to open the pool when the kids are back at school and the parents are back at work. Now they will not have the pleasure of enjoying the pool due to their own commitments and daily responsibilities.
“The pool was supposed to open for the holiday season; there is no excuse why the City did not make the necessary arrangements to fix the pool before December,” Visagie said.
Crystal clear waters in the Manenberg pool.
He added that the CPF was not happy that the City did not inform any of the local structures.
“We had no idea the pool would open on Friday, absolutely no idea. Residents were excited to hit the pool over the festive period which is now over, but their excitement was short lived when the pool remained closed until further notice.
“No provision was made for our residents to go swimming. Why should our people travel to other pools when we have one right here on our doorstep?” Visagie said.
READ | Cape Town police to secure Manenberg pool after residents broke into it and threw stones at workers
Residents passing the facility looked through the gates Thursday to see if the water was “blue enough” for them to swim.
“We don’t care anymore that the pool is ready, they made fun of us last month and said we couldn’t swim because it was dirty and not ready, but now they want us to go back to the pool because now they need money to cover the expenses we they paid when they got people to come clean the pool,” said Kashiefa Geduld, a resident.
Byron Arendse added that his children were disappointed that they couldn’t go swimming over the holidays.
Lifeguards were seen patrolling the pool on Thursday.
“Yes I understand the pool was closed due to maintenance and whatever else they say is wrong with the waters but at the end of the day the pool is the only thing in the area that keeps people busy and off the streets “. .
“For the City to take that away from people over the holiday period really wasn’t the best decision they made,” Arendse said.
Aunt Charmaine Blouws added that she was looking forward to taking her grandchildren to the pool on Friday.
“Oh, they’re going to be so excited. I had no idea it was going to open on Friday. I’m glad it’s finally opening,” he said.
Patricia van der Ross, a member of the mayor’s committee for community services and health, said the assessment of the source of the rust and the filtration system has been completed, and confirmed that the pool was ready to open on Friday.
“The system was successfully flushed and this has substantially improved the water quality. However, an in-depth infrastructure assessment is still required, as part of the pool’s long-term maintenance and repair programme,” Van der Ross added. .
He said that while the pool meets the standards required to reopen, it would operate with limitations, such as load overflow interruptions and continuous monitoring of the compromised filtration system.
“The cost of the evaluation and repairs carried out to restore water quality for interim operations has been borne by internal teams and available equipment and resources,” it added.
The pool will be open from Friday through the rest of the summer season.
All community pools are operational only from Thursday to Sunday.
