Nelson Mandela Bay Ward 60 Councillor, Thembinkosi Mafana, says the Bluewater Bay Surf Lifesaving Club will not have its lease renewed and that he will also be looking at the St Croix Sea Scouts Hall in Tipper’s Creek and the Bluewater Bay Tennis Club in Riverside Drive.
Mafana, who is also MMC for Human Settlements, dropped these bombshells at a community public meeting held in the grounds of the Vodacom Park in Bluewater Bay yesterday evening.
Mafana’s comments were in response to a question from a resident who said Bluewater Bay needed a Community Centre and questioned why members of the community were not allowed to enter the lifesaving club. The resident also demanded to know why members of the public were not allowed to swim at the beach alongside the club building.
The fact is that any resident can become a member of the lifesaving club which is a registered NPO. All that is requested is that they pay the annual membership fees and have an interest in lifesaving and abide by the club’s constitution.
The editor of the Echo, who is also president of the lifesaving club, was not allowed to respond. But the resident that asked the question about swimming on the beach next to the club deserves an answer.
- No swimming is allowed next to the club due to the proximity of the Swartkops River Mouth where there are exceptionally strong rip currents – especially during outgoing ocean tides.
- There are no lifeguards on duty on this beach.
- Shark activity is much greater near the river mouth.
- The lives of the Community are of paramount importance.
Mafana said he was not interested in listening to what “lifesavers” had to say and would get municipal response to the question of where residents could swim on the beach.
As far as the club facilities are concerned, the premises do belong to the municipality. But the lifesaving club, under its own steam, successfully applied for a lotto grant of more than R1-million and a further R500,000 was donated by various club members. These funds were used to upgrade the premises and purchase new craft. This, and the ongoing fund raising, keeps craft maintained and fueled.
The club also raises money to train new lifeguards every year. The majority of these youngsters come from Motherwell and Kwazekhele. Bluewater Bay Surf Lifesaving Club now has more black African lifeguards than any other club in Nelson Mandela Bay. It also has more black members than nearly every other lifesaving club in the entire Eastern Cape.
The Club also pays for all of the trainees’ examination and certification fees and the accreditation fees to Lifesaving Nelson Mandela Bay, Lifesaving Eastern Cape and Lifesaving South Africa for all of the lifeguards.
The lifesaving qualification results in many of the youngsters getting either full-time or seasonal employment by NMBM and other municipalities throughout the Eastern Cape,
It should also be noted that the Metro was, at one stage, considering demolishing the building as it was below the highwater line. The main mitigation for not doing so was because it was a lifesaving club, and well positioned to be able to respond to water emergencies in both the sea and the Swartkops River.
It is also worth mentioning that in 55 years of serving the community, there was only one day that there were any drownings on the main swimming beach. That was in 2012 when six rugby players from Motherwell drowned. But even in that tragedy, only five lifeguards managed to save 15 of the 21 bathers that were dragged out to sea by a flash rip current. To date the club has saved more than 400 lives.
The Club is also the only Lifesaving Nelson Mandela Bay member that is part of the Metro’s own Water Emergency Rescue Committee. It runs the water safety for the River Mile event each year. The Club handles water safety for the DHL Lifesaving South Africa National Championship and assists the Metro free of charge during Iron Man events and several others whenever they take place in Gqeberha.
It is understandable that many residents want a Community Centre. But that should be one large enough to take many people. As one resident pointed out, thousands of people can arrive for a funeral. The fact is that the Lifesaving Club building has a floor handling capacity of only about 180 people!
And what happens if a water emergency occurs during a funeral event? The Rescue Squad, Emergency services, Fire Department and Police Divers may be left fighting their way through thousands of people and a packed parking lot to get their rescue craft to the water!
A suitable sized plot should be set aside to provide a Community Centre that could even host conferences and fares.
It is not known whether the Scout Hall is on Metro property. But even there, 24 of the 26 youngsters that are Scouts are black youngsters. These youngsters learn how to be of service to the community.
But perhaps all is not lost. Once Mafuna investigates everything, he may find that all of these clubs are the very essence of what makes a community. He is due to report back in two weeks’ time.
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