‘Our kids are very frustrated,’ say Manenberg residents upset by the closure of public swimming pools at the height of summer

Hajierah Sampson-Slamdien (right) visited Athlone public pool with her granddaughter, Madinia Slamdien (centre), and her daughter, Khaadijah Slamdien (left), on 12 January 2023. For those people in the Athlone community who do not have transport options to get to Cape Town's beaches, the local public pool is the best place to go in order to swim and have fun, she said. (Photo: Tamsin Metelerkamp)

By Tamsin Metelerkamp

15 Jan 2023

Cape Town’s municipal pools are an important outlet for communities during the summer months, but maintenance issues have left some of them closed to the public. In Manenberg, where many residents can’t afford transport to beaches, an ongoing pool closure has seen local children getting into a facility illegally.

During the summer months, most municipal swimming pools in the Cape Town area become community hubs. Families flock to them to cool off and give children space to expend some holiday energy.

However, Manenberg pool is an exception. When Maverick Citizen visited the facility on Thursday 12 January, it was closed to the public. The pool was drained of water and partially encircled by red-and-white barrier tape strung between dustbins.

“When I pull out [of my driveway] in the mornings, children are just sitting there, and the way they look at the pool… I think this is the only pool that they can go to, if they don’t have any finances to go out to the beaches because they’re not fortunate enough for their parents to take them,” said Rafeeq Miller, a resident of Manenberg who lives opposite the pool.

“I don’t even think they know what it is to take a taxi to the next location.”

Manenberg public swimming pool in Cape Town stands closed to the public and drained of water on 12 January 2023. (Photo: Tamsin Metelerkamp)

The Manenberg pool has not been opened for the 2022/2023 summer season due to concerns about the water filtration system, according to Councillor Patricia van der Ross, mayoral committee member for community service and health. Rust in pipes has created a risk to the water quality and made it a potential hazard. Repair work could not be completed in time for the holidays.

“[The closure has] a major impact because it’s holiday time. Manenberg pool doesn’t only service the Manenberg area, it serves Heideveld communities, those that are close to Manenberg, so you can well imagine that our kids are very frustrated, because what do they do during recreation?” said Vernon Visagie, chairman of the Manenberg Community Policing Forum.

“The gang fights have already started. We’ve brought that under control. But now [with] the children, because of boredom, we are afraid that this is going to... start again.”

On Saturday 7 January, frustrations among Manenberg residents reached a peak and some children entered the pool facility to swim while it was still closed to the public.

“It was a very hot day. And you know that, our children, when they are in a predicament like that, they’ll do anything just to get a swim,” said Visagie.

“When they see the water, the pool is crystal clear. And so what they did is that they scaled the wall and took a swim. Obviously, the police were involved and the security were called in, and this frustrated and angered the community because they couldn’t understand why the pool was closed.”

According to a News24 report, some Manenberg residents threw stones at municipal staff during the incident – behaviour that the City of Cape Town has condemned.

Visagie said the city should have communicated with residents about maintenance work needed at the facility and taken steps to ensure that it was opened for the summer holidays.

“The city never communicated with us that they were going to do maintenance work on the pool,” he said.

“I think the city acted very unfairly in the sense that they know it’s hot days coming up, and they could have done maintenance on this pool long before… The children [in Manenberg] don’t have any money even to buy bread, let alone a taxi to Sea Point to go and swim.”

Van der Ross told Maverick Citizen the city’s recreation and parks department was working closely with city law enforcement to secure the facility and engage with community stakeholders to “raise awareness about the safety risks and reasons for closure”.

“Our main concern is the safety and well-being of the community,” she said.

There are 35 municipal pools in the Cape Town area, with an additional three inside city resorts. At the time of a city media release on 22 December 2022, eight public pools were temporarily closed due to structural, mechanical and electrical faults. Manenberg pool was among these.

The release stated that a further six pools – Eastridge, Elsies River, Emthonjeni, Morningstar, Observatory and Vulindlelawere – would not open for the 2022/2023 season due to major repairs needed.

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People enjoy a warm afternoon at Athlone public swimming pool in Cape Town on 12 January 2023. (Photo: Tamsin Metelerkamp)

“After extensive assessment, it has been determined that most municipal pools across the metropole, including the heating units at indoor pools, have aged infrastructure requiring extensive repair or complete replacement,” said Van der Ross.

“The recreation and parks department is currently in the process of putting a procurement mechanism in place that ensures long-term value and sustainability. Based on the outcome of the assessment, a repairs and maintenance programme for all swimming pools is being developed to address the issues identified.”

Implementation of the programme will start in the 2022/2023 financial year, pending the finalisation of the tender process, she continued.

The importance of community pools

The situation at the municipal pool in Athlone, another Cape Town suburb, stood in stark contrast to that at the Manenberg facility. When Maverick Citizen visited last week, the space was abuzz with activity.

For Siobhan Rickerts, a visitor at Athlone pool, it is the perfect place to relax with her children, their cousins and friends. She does not have to worry about kids disappearing on a busy beach, or growing restless due to being cooped up at home. The facility gives them the space they need to let loose, and its high fence keeps them safe and contained.

Athlone public pool is well-maintained and often busy during the summer months, according to Siobhan Rickerts, a visitor at the pool on 12 January 2023. (Photo: Tamsin Metelerkamp)

“This is the nearest place to go, and it’s easy to maintain [safety]. You don’t lose your kids in the crowd like you do at the beaches. And it’s also a good space to calm them down as they’re going into school season,” Rickerts said.

“It’s usually busy like right now, and everybody looks out for one another.”

The facility was well-maintained, she continued, with good water quality. It only closed during blackouts, as outages affected the pool’s filtration system.

Another parent visiting the pool, Hajierah Sampson-Slamdien, told Maverick Citizen that the facility was important to the community as not all residents had the means to travel to other swimming spots.

“If the fathers work and the mothers stay at home, the best place to take the children is to bring them to the swimming pool. It’s also something that contributes to their health, and I just think that is a need for them to have that extramural activity,” she said.

“At home, they just sit on their phones because they cannot go play outside – there’s gangsterism, fighting, shooting. Here, they just feel relaxed for the day, and the parents as well, they are relaxed.” DM/MC

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The importance of community pools