PSJ steps up safety measures at beaches ahead of long weekend

PORT St Johns mayor Lindelwa Rolobile has assured bathers that they will do everything in their power to ensure that no drownings occur off any of the town’s beaches this long weekend, including on New Year’s Day.

A municipal workers’ strike rocked the tourist-packed town earlier this month and lifeguards, employed to keep beaches safe over the festive season, joined the protest. During this time two bathers are believed to have drowned.

The Daily Dispatch reported that the main road leading to the town had been cordoned off by angry, protesting municipal employees demanding, among other things, the removal of their municipal manager.

Rolobile revealed that the 45 “highly-trained” lifeguards had been contracted by the municipality to work the beaches over the festive season when the two bathers disappeared in the surf off Second Beach on December 17. There were no lifeguards on duty because of the strike.

Port St Johns (PSJ), known as the “crown jewel of the Wild Coast”, boasts some of the most beautiful beaches in the Eastern Cape, including Second Beach, which has seen eight fatal shark attacks in the last decade, making it one of the world’s most dangerous beaches. The town normally attracts thousands of beachgoers around the festive season.

Speaking to the Dispatch yesterday, Rolobile said lifeguards had resumed work prior to Christmas and were working at all six PSJ beaches.

“There will be no more drownings here,” she said, adding that most of the lifeguards had been deployed at Second Beach “because of its history”.

The mayor, however, had a word of caution for bathers visiting the rural town, saying that despite the presence of lifeguards, there was still the threat of sharks in the sea.

“We were told there were sharks spotted in the water so they should exercise caution.”

In an article published recently, the Dispatch reported how a drowning victim’s body had been recovered after a day in the ocean with shark-bite marks. The body belonged to an as yet unnamed 16-year-old from Flagstaff.

The second bather, identified as Siphila Nzimande from Mthatha, has not yet been found. —