Locals cautioned during festive season
City’s beaches in top cop’s hands
THE holidaymakers have arrived. “Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape and Gauteng number plates. They’ve come from all sides,” Metro Police spokesman Senior Superintendent Parboo Sewpersad said yesterday evening. “The beachfront is extremely busy. There is lots of braai-ing, lots of partying, especially between Suncoast and Blue Lagoon. We are trying to prevent alcohol consumption.”
Sewpersad added that soft road closures, involving cones, had been applied in the busy area and that the force was beefing up its manpower.
At noon yesterday 1 500 cars an hour were passing through the Mooi River toll, heading for the coast while 1 000 an hour were heading inland, according to Zinhle Mngomezulu of the Road Traffic Inspectorate. “We appealing to motorists to behave themselves and obey the Traffic Act,” said police spokesman Lietuenant-Colonel Thulani Zwane. “Those who contravene the law will be arrested,” he said, adding that police would be setting up roadblocks.
SENIOR Superintendent Lindi Nkolele is packing a serious punch along the Durban beachfront, galvanising her metro police team for one of the busiest festive seasons Durban has had.
As head of operations at the beachfront, and a relative new kid on the block, Nkolele is responsible for the busiest areas within the city – the beachfront comprises uShaka to Blue Lagoon, including Moses Mabhida precinct, the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre and Victoria Embankment area.
Overseeing the beachfront precinct for three months, Nkolele, a former Tshwane metro police officer, has quickly learnt the challenges of one of the busiest nodes in the city. And this year, while the council embraces a more “welcoming” atmosphere around Durban’s beaches, Nkolele said there would be no “soft approach”.
“Handling the beachfront is a mammoth task, but we are ready for the influx of people. If people adhere to the by-laws then it will be an enjoyable festive season for all,” she said.
Nkolele has 15 years of experience in municipal policing, but has only been in Durban for just under two years.
“I had never even been to Durban before on holiday, but coming to Durban meant career growth for me. I was initially posted in Isipingo, and I’ve been deployed for the past few months at the beachfront, so this will be the first festive season I tackle at the beachfront,” she said.
One of her main aims, she said, was bringing all stakeholders to the table to speak about issues and solutions.
“I like to speak to everyone concerned, and plan a way forward. This is the approach we’ve had this year at the beachfront, and we want people to feel welcomed to the area,” she said.
With the welcoming though, comes a strict enforcement of municipal by-laws, she said.
“We will be searching vehicles entering the beachfront area. We will search your cooler boxes and the nooks and crannies that people think we don’t know about in which to hide alcohol. It is not allowed to be consumed in public,” she said.
With hundreds of thousands of people expected at the beachfront over the peak Christmas and New Year periods, Nkolele said booms would only be put in place once an area reached vehicular capacity.
“We will not allow vehicles in. If there is an emergency we need emergency vehicles to access those in need.
“But we don’t want people to think that we do not want them to come to the beach,” she said.
Members from the Special Projects Unit are also expected to be roped in to assist officers in clamping down on transgressions.
Metro police spokesman Senior Superintendent Parbhoo Sewpersadh said Nkolele brought key skills to the unit.
“She’s a team player and adapted quickly to Durban. She’s also a good disciplinarian and enforces how things should be done, the right way,” said Sewpersadh.
And when she’s stressed, Nkolele said: “I just take a walk around my office, which is the Durban beach, and I feel instantly better.”