Is swimming now permitted at beaches?
“I DIDN’T get the memo” is to remain unaware of something that is common knowledge to everyone else or it can be used as a form of sarcasm by people when they want to say that no one told them.
I guess many of Durban’s beachgoers, including surfers and swimmers, didn’t get the memo either, as they are braving the waters despite the warnings of certain beach closures issued by the city after high levels of E coli were found.
Perhaps they chose to ignore the warnings of coming into contact with the sea, on the back of newly found freedom, following the restrictions that were imposed on us during the Covid-19 pandemic. The other reasons could be that they doubt the efficacy of the water-testing results conducted by the designated NPO, or they couldn’t care less and are deliberately exposing themselves, given the fact that some beaches are cleared for use and the ones right next to them are considered highly contaminated. As if water does not mix. The high levels of bacteria are attributed to damage to the city’s wastewater treatment plants and sanitation infrastructure caused by the floods in April this year, resulting in sewage pollution.
We continue to fall into an existential crisis almost six months after the floods and amid allegations that a veneer has been created that the city is struggling to effectively manage the repairs and restoration process of damaged infrastructure, whereas they are just dragging their feet.
Much has been said about the quality of our drinking water as well. In spite of the municipality’s assurances that our tap water is safe to drink, people doubt this, after a Mariannhill mother died and scores of residents fell sick, with diarrhoea, recently after they apparently drank polluted tap water. As a result, most people have turned to drinking bottled or purified water, or water that is boiled.
All is not well, and inasmuch as I hate to dredge up these issues, we continue to be plagued by constant water outages and rolling blackouts
by Eskom. A multilayered approach is what is needed from the top to address our simmering issues, reinforce the fundamentals or that which underpins our economic and political landscapes. This so that we can start to live freely and peacefully again as South Africans who have the resolve to fix things the moment that they break and bounce back quickly as if it never happened. ABDULLA AMLA | Durban