Alcohol could put beach-goers in deep water

IT is going to be a dry festive season for beach-goers in Port Elizabeth, with the municipality putting a cap on boozing at the city’s beaches during the holidays.

This sobering announcement was made at Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality’s safety and security festive season launch at Wells Estate yesterday.

Metro police chief Yolanda Faro said vehicles would be searched near the beaches and any alcohol found would be confiscated and the owners sent packing.

If anyone was caught drinking on the beach, they would be fined and also sent home.

“We are going to concentrate on bylaw enforcement, especially when alcohol is involved,” Faro said. “Our beaches are not a drinking place.” She also outlawed fires on beaches, apart from in the designated areas.

“There will be visible policing at all our beaches. That has already started.”

Faro said 98 traffic fines had been issued for unlicensed vehicles and parking violations at some of the city’s beaches at the weekend.

Mayor Athol Trollip said the city could only be known as crime-free if its metro police continued to grow.

“We need to keep our beaches beautiful and have a zero-tolerance approach to the consumption of alcohol,” he said.

Motherwell police station commander Brigadier Ernie Neveling said joint operations centre personnel would support the metro police.

TWO men were arrested and mandrax tablets worth more than R30 000 confiscated at a roadblock in Wells Estate, Port Elizabeth, yesterday.

The roadblock formed part of the launch of the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality’s festive season safety and security plan, a collaboration between municipal officials, the metro police and the SAPS.

Mayor Athol Trollip said: “We wish to tell the people involved in criminal activity that they have a war on their hands and that we are united in our common quest to defeat them.”

Police spokesman Captain Andre Beetge said 802 mandrax tablets were found inside the vehicle.

The occupants were expected to appear in the Motherwell Magistrate’s Court later in the week, he said.