A member of a spill cleaning crew removes dead fish from the river in the uMhlanga Lagoon Nature Reserve.
- The popular tourist spots, Umhlanga Main and Bronze Beaches, have been closed.
- This comes after pump station failures that the City of eThekwini claims will be resolved in 48 hours.
- The City did not answer why it failed to inform the public of the beach closure on social media.
Popular tourist beaches, Umhlanga Main and Bronze Beach, have been closed due to pump station failures.
“The City can confirm that Umhlanga Main and Bronze Beach were closed following the failure of two pumps at Portland pump station,” City of eThekwini spokesperson Lindiwe Khuzwayo said on Friday.
She said the City had sourced another pump and added that the pump station would be operational again “by the end of this week”.
“This will stop the overflow to the beach and the water should clear in 48 hours. Therefore, this should not affect tourism during the school holidays,” she added.
“We will continue to keep residents and visitors abreast on water test results.”
News24 asked the City why the public had not been informed of the beach closures through social media, but there was no response to this question.
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ActionSA eThekwini councillor Alan Beesley said the beach closures would harm the city’s already dwindling tourism sector.
“Tourism in the city is on the backfoot and beach closures ahead of school holidays is extremely worrying, especially for those who depend on an influx of tourists during these times to make a living,” he said.
Last December, tourism was down by 22%, Beesley said, adding that the June/July holidays looked to be heading in a similar trajectory.
“Besides the sewage causing the beach closure, the smell of the sewage on several parts of the Umhlanga Promenade is unbearable.”
Umhlanga was meant to be a prime tourist destination, he said.
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“It is this type of destination, not only for eThekwini but for the entire province. Sadly, the experience of those tourists who visit Umhlanga is far from encouraging.”
Since the April 2022 floods, already aged infrastructure in Durban collapsed, leaving raw sewage finding its way into rivers and the ocean for months on end.
The Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs opened a criminal case against top officials in the eThekwini Metro for failing to adequately address the ongoing water and sewage crisis in the city.
This was revealed in a responding affidavit court document submitted by top department official in KwaZulu-Natal, Bonginkosi Dlamini, the acting chief director and director of compliance, monitoring and enforcement in the department.
ActionSA has also approached the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban in the hopes of compelling the eThekwini Metro and other government departments to solve the ongoing sewage crisis.
The department also outlined in court documents that the issue of infrastructure had been of concern long before the April 2022 floods.
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