New community effort to save ruined Belonsky pool
Buffalo City’s Ruth Belonsky swimming pool, where elite swimmers were forged and the community learnt to swim and have fun, has been allowed to fall into ruin.
But people are not going to allow the decay and neglect to continue at the public pool in Parkside, East London businesswoman Shantell van der Westhuizen said.
She could not believe her eyes when she saw how it had taken only five months of mismanagement to turn the clear waters of the full pool into a stagnant, algae-filled empty ghost.
She said she would rally others to join her and get the community pool back in good working order and children into the water, learning how to swim.
Van der Westhuizen was also shocked at how dilapidated the pool buildings had been allowed to become, with walls festooned with gang tagging — graffiti which is a clear sign that criminals and degenerates have come to roost there.
The Dispatch went to check on the pool and there was no sign of the public. The air of collapse is framed by grass which has grown to match the metre-high fence.
Five people in BCM overalls were seen sitting in the shade near the change rooms at noon.
With no security in sight, it is easy to see why CCTV cameras and electric cables powering the high mast lamps have been ripped off or stripped, presumably sold to the highest bidder.
It was easy to get in. There are no locks and the gate hinges are broken.
The pool has been emptied and reduced to a few foul puddles on the bottom. It was full and ready to use in August 2020 after the lockdown restriction was lifted. And yet the pool was closed to the public.
BCM refused to allow people in, causing frustration to soar.
Young people simply climbed over the walls and piled into the pool to have fun.
Van der Westhuizen said: “I had my swimming lessons here 25 years ago. This was one of best recreational places in East London. I grew up in Buffalo Flats and I used to walk to the facility for my swimming lessons.”
Van der Westhuizen said she was drawing up revival proposals which would be handed to BCM.
A swimming coach at the pool for 30 years, Rodwell Fredericks, is furious.
“This never happened in all the time I was here. This is a disgrace. We have had so many learnerships in the swimming pool, and have produced great swimmers here.”
Fredericks said he was willing to sacrifice his time and help out when the swimming pool was functioning again.
When BCM spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya was asked about the collapse of the pool, he blamed vandals.
When told there was no security seen at the complex, he promised that BCM was in the process of strengthening visible security.
“Now there is security for both the morning and evening shift. Our law enforcement officials, together with SAPS, also conduct patrols.
“One individual has been arrested and a case has been opened with the SAPS.”
Ngwenya said they were waiting for procurement processes to run their course so that the fence was replaced and more security personnel added.
“We are pleading with the community of Parkside to assist us in catching anyone who is vandalising the facility as the facility is there to benefit them,” he said.