Shandre Bridle, a Swimming South Africa instructor who owns We Swim 4 Life uses the Linden swimming pool to conduct her classes, something she has been unable to do for five months.
“The Linden pool is a heated facility to enable year-round use. Unfortunately, the water temperature has not been warmed this winter leaving me unable to provide my classes to my clients.”
She says over 70% of her pupils have left because of this which has been an ‘incredibly difficult hit to absorb’.
“I do some land training when I can, but it is not enough, obviously.” Bridle is also a life-saving coach and also offers lessons for special needs children.
Aside from the water temperature, she cannot understand why the pool is no longer open over the weekends. “Only people who don’t work or have time during the week can make use of this facility which is madness. It is a community resource that should be available at times to accommodate different schedules and needs of residents, including children who are at school on weekdays.”
Last week ward 99 councillor Nicole van Dyk wrote to MMC Community Development, councillor Lubabalo Cecil Magwentshu. “For the last five months, Linden Swimming Pool has not been fully functional due to a broken heat exchanger. To date there has been no updated maintenance SLA signed and many coaches have been left without any alternative plan.”
“I’m sure you are aware, all swimming pools need to open on 1 September 2023, however, the Region B Aquatics team has said this is not likely for Linden Swimming Pool based on the delay to appoint a new maintenance contractor.”
Van Dyk listed several questions around the fixing of the heating systems and the paper will follow with updates as they become available.
The city did not respond to questions despite confirming receipt of the enquiries.
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