Or the ‘Cracked-White-Elephant’, as it’s now nicknamed by many.
Letaba Herald posed questions to Neville Ndlala, media spokesperson of the Greater Tzaneen Municipality on January 9, and received official feedback from him on Wednesday January 18.
After assurance was given to the Herald in December by word of mouth by Ndlala that the pool would be open before the end of December nothing came of it.
And to top it all, the ‘crack’ that was discovered before the re-opening of the pool, seemed leaking again Meanwhile, a lifesaver was also appointed, which was also seemingly the problem as to the pool not being open for the public after the ‘official’ opening.
“We have appointed a lifeguard and he started on December 12.”
But the pool is still not open.
‘The Tzaneen swimming pool went through a reconstruction/upgrade that was completed on September 18 in 2015. The pool was used to host a number of school galas during the swimming season of 2015/2016.
However, during August 2015, We observed that the water level in the pool had been dropping. Since the contract was still within the defects liability period, the contractor was instructed back to site to address the issue,’ Ndlala said.
According to Ndlala, a leak was detected along a wall-floor joint. ‘It took several weeks for the point to be identified due to the non-stable nature of the area around the pool, a portion of the scum channel sagged causing a crack between the floor and the wall, gaps have emerged between portions of the wall and the overflow bricks allowing water to go straight into the scum channel below the overflow level.
This is caused by the water eroding the material that was used to seal the areas.
The issue highlighted has been addressed though delays were encountered from the side of the contractor. Resealing using epoxy and resin was carried out to make the joints more resilient. T
he actual repair work was concluded on Tuesday January 17.
Ndlala stated that the following are the remaining activities before the pool can be accessible for the public, namely: Back filling and compaction: delayed due to recent rains that made the material too wet for adequate compaction.
Weather permitting, the back filling and compaction should be completed by Thursday January 19. Pool re-commissioning: to allow the newly laid tiles’ grouting to be sufficiently dried, this was anticipated to be done by Friday January 20.
The pool can then be properly evaluated to ensure that all the problems have been solved .
The 50% retention payable to the contractor at the end of the defects liability period is yet to be paid, even though the period expired on September 18.
The retention will be released as soon as the pool is functioning without any issues that the contractor is liable for. ‘You must bear in mind that the pool leaked before and was repaired, it leaked again from December 2016, we therefore could not open it to the public.
The day we are satisfied that the pool is 100% fixed were therefore arrange for its opening.
Yes, we said December, but the leak prevented that from happening and the construction industry was closed from the December 15,’ Ndlala said to the Herald. Ndlala reiterated that the GTM said that the pool is open for swimming galas or accessible for anyone with a private lifeguard. ‘We have appointed a lifeguard and he started on December 12 last year.’ That was two days before the construction industry closed.
This is in contradiction with Ndlala’s statement of “Anyone can use the pool with a private Lifegaurd.”
Why is the lifegaurd then appointed at all at this stage? ‘As soon as the repairs on the pool are completed we will be in a position to communicate with residents including through the media,’ Ndlala said. Letaba Herald is aware of an end year function party that was held at the pool last year December for officials of the GTM.
How is it that the GTM staff can enjoy a party but it is not open for leisure off the public? Ndlala just stated that ‘Employees use the venue for a year-end function they were not there to swim. We used it in 2015 as well.’
And who would not swim in the scorching heat whilst having an end year function? Officials of the GTM of course. Just a reminder to them, unless they’ve missed out on a splash in the pool, there was a lifeguard that was appointed to look after their safety. One would not like to backlash the GTM, as the electricity problem is already a big concern and all eyes are on all the ‘cracks’ they are facing, and promise to rectify. With all due respect, ‘cracks’ in infrastructure that could be avoided through consistent maintenance.
Tzaneen is looking at you GTM!
A big concern raised by the community was, were to did the GTM pump the water to off the swimming and to refill it again, since we are in a dry season were water retrictions are still in place.
Ndlala gave the assurance that the water was pumped into the reticulation system.
Also read:
Swimming pool empty because of leak
Tzaneen Swembad Saga: Eers oop…nou dolleeg!
