After being derelict for almost three decades, Buffalo City Metro has promised that the Mdantsane NU2 swimming pool will be operational in summer.
This also holds the promise that a major social problem — people drowning because they cannot swim — can be addressed, especially by giving aspiring swimmers in the township a chance to learn how to stay afloat and alive in water, and have endless fun.
Over the years at least R30m has been promised for the fixing and rebuilding of the pool complex, but it always sinks back into disrepair, disuse, mismanagement and vandalism.
But on Monday, BCM spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya put out a peppy message saying all repair work would be complete in the next few months and the metro would be reopening the pool in time for people to cool off in safety and enjoy the summer vibes.
Mdantsane activist Thabang Maseko, who has called for the reopening of the pool, said: “This pool can afford our youth a chance to take up the sport and then we’ll have black people winning gold medals in swimming.
“This facility has the potential to bring change to the people of the township.”
However, the seemingly never-ending stop-start saga of the pool has worn down public confidence, and the visuals merely serve to reinforce the view that it is a broken, neglected place.
The pool’s decline started in the early 1990s. Plans for its renewal were drawn up in 2007 and there they lay.
As the property crumbled, petty thieves and drug abusers took over. In the eyes of the public, the place was a dump.
When DispatchLIVE visited the pool this week, it was action stations.
A team of 20 construction workers wearing proper protective gear were busy working on the Olympic-sized pool which was stripped of tiles and was about to be retiled.
The buildings had reached roof level, and soon to be in place will be change rooms with toilets, showers and lockers, a caretaker’s room, the main administration offices, a ticket office, and a security office.
Still at foundation level were the filtration plant room and the children’s pool which is still a hole in the ground.
Ngwenya said trenches were being dug for pipes and water connections.
He said two children’s pools could only be built when the pipes were in.
On the downside are the ever shifting dates of completion.
Last year, the metro told DispatchLIVE the pool would be open to the public on May 31 2021, but on Monday, Ngwenya, despite announcing that the pool would open for summer, would not give a specific date.
This does not bode well because over the years, the municipality has missed every deadline it set for the reopening of the facility.
Lurking in the background of the pool’s long story are the missing millions.
R6m given to BCM by the European Union for the revival of the pool vanished in 2012.
This was followed in 2013 by a further allocation of R5m announced by then-mayor Zukiswa Ncitha who declined to specify how much of it would be spent on the pool and similar projects.
In 2016, BCM set aside a further R3m to revamp the pool over three years, plus R150,000 for the erection of a fence as part of “phase one”.
Phase two was supposed to be the actual revamp work at a cost of R1.2m, while a caretaker’s house would cost taxpayers more than R1.5m;
In April 2018, mayor Xola Pakati attended a sod-turning ceremony at the pool and announced R12m expenditure promising the pool would finally be fully functional again.
This time, R3m would be used for the construction of the ticket office, guard house and change rooms, as part of phase one.
Phase two was supposed to see two kiddies’ pools upgraded, floodlights replaced with steel floodlights, construction of pump houses and installation of pumps and filters and that was supposed to be done by June 2019.
The construction of grandstands, water polo and diving pools was supposed to be done as part of phase three, with the pool reopening in June 2020.
But in October 2018, Pakati told DispatchLIVE that the R1m they had allocated to the pool had run out before work could be completed.
In 2019, R10m was allocated for the refurbishment, with BCM in March 2020 saying only R1.7m was left. This was despite the only visible development being the installation of concrete slab fencing.
Ngwenya admitted to “unforeseen circumstances” which led to delays in the project, including the Covid-19 pandemic.
But he said: “All the old tiles from the pool shell have been removed and the constructor is busy with remedial works. They are also busy with the construction of the kiddies’ pool.
“Curbing has been done in the main parking area and they are now compacting it for the laying of paving blocks,” Ngwenya said.
DispatchLIVE
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