Red flag for KwaDukuza beaches

The Dolphin Coast has some of the most beautiful beaches in the country but poor infrastructure, litter and sub-standard maintenance are leading to the slow decline of our golden sands and may even drive tourists to seek out other holiday destinations.

This while the KwaDukuza municipality spent R40 000 this year applying for Pilot Blue Flag status for beaches that are well known to fall short of the required standards.

Dolphin Coast Conservancy chairman Di Jones says four local beaches (Zinkwazi, Salt Rock, Blythedale and Willard) applied for and received Pilot Blue Flag status again this year. Pilot status is an ‘apprenticeship’ to become a full Blue Flag beach, once certain upgrades are made and amenities provided.

“The problem is that none of our beaches – with the possible exception of Blythedale – stand a chance of earning the Blue Flag,” said Jones. Application for Pilot Blue Flag status costs R10 000 per beach.

In order to receive the coveted Blue Flag status, a beach needs to meet certain strict criteria: environmental education and information, water quality, environmental management and safety and services – none of which Ballito’s beaches attain.

Among dozens of other conditions a beach needs to have a minimum of five educational activities on offer, no sewage or industrial discharges may affect the area, facilities for receiving recyclable waste must be present, all buildings and equipment on the beach must be properly maintained, an emergency plan to cope with pollution safety risks must be in place and adequate and clean sanitary facilities with controlled sewage disposal must be available.

A few weeks ago Willard Beach suffered a sewage spill (not for the first time), Zinkwazi has ablutions right on the sand and Salt Rock has a sewage pump station squatting right at the entrance to the beach – all likely red flags in the process of accreditation.

Jones told The Courier that she believes WESSA (Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa) should not have awarded pilot status to these beaches as they are aware of the problems and should know that they don’t stand a chance of receiving the nod.

WESSA’s Blue Flag co-ordinator, Lance Anders, said from Cape Town that Full Blue Flag status was a long term process.

“We accept all applications for Pilot Blue Flag status. WESSA views Pilot status as an incentive for the municipality to make improvements on a beach – therefore there is no vetting process for pilot status.

“There is a further fee of R24 000 to apply for full status, and the vetting process by WESSA checking infrastructure and the like.”

The North Coast Courier paid a visit to KwaDukuza’s four pilot beaches to see if the municipality is making any of the required upgrades.

None of the four beaches has any educational activities on offer and only Blythedale has facilities for receiving recyclable waste. It was also unclear if any of the beaches have an emergency plan to deal with pollution safety risks. Salt Rock beach has an emergency sewage overflow pipe emptying into the stream right on the beach.

KDM has failed to answer questions about who decides which beaches to apply for, what upgrades are planned and how many years they have been paying for pilot status.

Of six beaches in the area – Zinkwazi, Salt Rock, Blythedale, Thompson’s Bay, Willard and Westbrook (which is in the eThekwini metro and has full Blue Flag status), only one roll of toilet paper was spotted in the ablutions at Blythedale.

Problems with maintenance on local beaches even stretch down to Umdloti beach, where damaged infrastructure such as collapsed pavements and rain-damaged access paths – as well as a lack of ablution facilities, are having a negative effect on the appeal of the beach.

According to civil engineer Maurice Burger, in 2015 the lifesavers’ hut and ablutions were demolished and never replaced and beachgoers have started using vacant lots as ablutions.

Burger also claims that the pavements and manhole covers have started collapsing due to people parking on them, that the beach access walkways have been virtually washed away by heavy rains and that fishermen completely disregard the ‘no fishing’ signs.

“This is a beach that sometimes sees up to 2000 visitors on a good day,” explains Burger.

“Where do you think all those people are doing their business without toilets?”

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