‘Open our swimming pools’
A group of young people from the area protested this week because the Merafong City Local Municipality had not yet opened the municipal swimming pools as promised.
“The municipal swimming season was supposed to start on 1 September, but none of our swimming pools is open. September is almost over, and it is still not open,” Mr Anele Ramokgoatedi complained while he and other young people picketed at the Carletonville municipal swimming pool on Friday, 15 September. He and the other protesters are all ANCYL (ANC Youth League) members.
“It is getting hot, and there must be someplace where young people and other residents can cool off. The swimming pools are some of the few places where young people can relax. The municipality spent a lot of money to fix this swimming pool a few months ago, but it is all dirty again. Why does the municipality not maintain and open it,” said Ramokgoatedi.
By Friday, the Carletonville swimming pool was green and filled with algae.
The children’s swimming pool looked even worse.
It only had a few centimetres of water, and litter had accumulated in one corner.
The picketers included young people from across the municipal area, as the municipal swimming pool in Fochville is also still closed. Wedela and Khutsong do not have swimming pools.
The youngsters complain that this only makes the situation worse.
“The Carletonville swimming pool is already too small for all the young people who have to use it, and now the municipality is dragging its feet to open it,” Ramokgoatedi lamented.
The Herald took the issue to the municipality on Tuesday.
“The two existing swimming pools in Merafong City have aged infrastructure, and the pump rooms need a complete revamp. The project to repair the pools was in progress, and repairs were recently done, but the infrastructure was vandalised over the past few months.
The pump rooms were stripped bare, and thus, the swimming pools could not open for operation.
“The municipality is currently engaging specialised service providers to revamp the swimming pools and pump rooms completely. The process will also be followed to avoid the continuous breakdowns experienced at the swimming pools. The timeframe for this process cannot be confirmed now but will be communicated once established.
“The municipality needs financial muscle i.e. a budget to rebuild Wedela swimming pool and build swimming pools in other areas of Merafong City. The municipality will include these projects as soon as the budget has been secured.
It will be communicated accordingly,” the municipality’s acting marketing and communications manager, Ms Nomonde Mahube, answered.
