Strand Beach was bustling as local beachgoers, residents and safety representatives were engaged by Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis during a visit last Friday (6 January).
The visit followed the closing of a section of the beach due to sewage-related problems over New Year’s weekend, and entailed observing various City of Cape Town initiatives to ensure beachgoers’ safety over the festive season and thanking City staff for their hard work during this period.
While Strand Beach is fully reopened to the public, the section between the walkway and area in front of Spur in Gordon’s Bay remained temporarily closed due to a sewerage overflow in the area related to a sewer pump station that tripped, because inappropriate materials had been thrown into the local sewer network. In the meantime the pumps are being serviced and mitigation measures have been implemented to maintain the sewer operations.
Said Hill-Lewis: “I would like to thank every City official working over the festive season to ensure a safe and fun experience for all in Cape Town, especially on our busy beaches, which are the heart of our bustling tourist economy. In Strand alone, officials estimate that hundreds of thousands of people visited this beach, which is great for the economy, businesses and traders around here. It is good to see Strand beach looking lively today after a section was temporarily closed due to an electrical fault at a sewer pump station. Sustained load shedding continues to impact City infrastructure, as does discharge of foreign items into the sewer system. Where these incidents occur we put safety first by effecting temporary precautionary closures until water quality results show it is safe for recreational use. Quick responses from our teams has enabled us to keep 99% of our coastline open and safer for all at any time.”
He was joined by Mayoral Committee members Deputy Mayor Eddie Andrews (Environment and Coastal Management), Alderman JP Smith (Safety), Patricia van der Ross (Community Services and Health) and Siseko Mbandezi (Water and Sanitation) who embarked on a walkabout along the shoreline.
Apart from engaging visitors to the beach and the lifeguarding fraternity at Strand Surf Lifesaving Club, Hill-Lewis further observed the City’s Identikidz programme, which seeks to prevent children and parents from being separated on busy beaches.
According to Van der Ross, a total of 14 659 children were tagged and 106 reunited with family since the start of the programme on Thursday 15 December until Sunday 8 January.
She added there had been four fatal and five non-fatal drowning incidents at Strand Beach since Wednesday 19 October.
Two of the fatal drownings and four of the non-fatal occurred during the peak festive season period.
During the Mayor’s visit there were reports of a possible drowning in the vicinity of the jetty, when a group of children were seen swimming in the water, but this was later confirmed to be a false alarm (“Verdrinking by Strand was toe heeltyd ’n ‘vals alarm’,” Netwerk24).
City law enforcement agencies have been hard at work maintaining order and upholding bylaws to ensure public places are safer for all.
Regarding alcohol confiscation on beaches, which reportedly increase year-on-year, Smith said: “Strand falls under Area East along with several other beaches including Gordon’s Bay and Macassar. For the period 1 December 2022 until 3 January 2023, 6 638 bottles of alcohol were confiscated in this area. On New Year’s Day, staff confiscated approximately 1 000 bottles, just on Strand Beach.”
The Mayor’s visit also coincided with a vehicle check-point along a section of Beach Road, which saw 71 fines issued to the value of just over R43 000 for various transgressions. During the period, 146 vehicles were stopped.
