Under pressure from organised business, sporting organisations and beachfront entrepreneurs, the eThekwini municipality announced on Tuesday that work to install a new transformer at a major sewage pump station is at an advanced stage to mitigate the high levels of E. coli at six beaches on Durban’s Golden Mile.
City spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela also assured beachgoers that levels of E. coli from the sewage pollution at all the affected beaches on the Durban coastline was decreasing.
“Work to install a new transformer at the Johanna Road sewage pump station has commenced and is at an advanced stage. The pump is expected to start operating in full swing before the end of this week,” Mayisela said.
The city on Friday closed six recreational beaches — South, North, Bay of Plenty, Sun Coast, Country Club and Umgeni beaches. These are among the main tourist spots and an important part of the province’s economy. The closure followed high levels of bacteria, compounded by the unceasing vandalism of the sewage pump station and abnormal heavy rains washing waste from multitudes of informal settlements along the Umgeni River.
“The closure of beaches is not intended at frustrating the public but is a precautionary measure by the city to guard against members of the public bearing the brunt of contaminated water.”
Mayisela said the bacterial levels are dropping and more tests will be carried out. eThekwini will continuously update the public in the event of new developments. He urged bathers and sporting enthusiasts to make use of other nearby beaches to the North, South and central parts of the city.
Durban Chamber of Commerce and Business CEO Palesa Phili urged the city to address the situation immediately.
“As organised business, we are deeply concerned about the frequency at which the beaches have been closed. The ongoing closure of Durban’s beaches creates a poor perception of the city’s ability to manage its tourism infrastructure. Furthermore, it has the potential to affect the tourism sector and its entire value chain negatively.
“We are still in the festive season. Tourists are still entering our city daily both nationally and internationally hence failure to restore the beaches will lead to severe economic losses. Travellers and the local community are not able to enjoy Durban’s iconic beach facilities, which translates to a loss to our economy.
“It is high time that the city attends to its sewerage system. If this situation persists and is not resolved it will be detrimental to the economy and related economic sectors. 2021 was a harsh year, for our city, province and country. We are now on a journey of recovery and restoration, 2022 needs to be better,” she said.
The city and provincial leadership a few days ago vowed to focus on upping its tourism offerings to domestic travellers, this on the back of a much-needed recovery in its tourism sector. Durban’s beaches and golden mile is a major part of the offering.
KwaZulu-Natal premier Sihle Zikalala indicated that the projected economic gain for the festive season stood at R1.5bn. This was despite the July unrest, the fourth wave of Covid-19 infections and the knee-jerk red-list Omicron response from the UK and EU governments.
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