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The Democratic Alliance (DA) in eThekwini questions the ANC-EFF claims that our city is ready for the festive season. We further question whether this destructive coalition is truly serious about saving our ailing tourist industry while protecting our residents and visitors.

Visits to beaches all along the Metro’s 100 km coastline have painted a completely different picture to the fairy-tale that the mayor wants us to believe, from derelict lifeguard stations to vandalized ablution facilities that have not been maintained for years.

Paddling pools along the central beaches are still standing empty years on due to pumps not being replaced. This results in an increased number of children using the crowded surf zone.

The DA in eThekwini also found out that the cleaning contract, mainly for litter picking along the central beachfront, has come to an end. Due to a lack of planning the ANC-EFF administration is now scrambling to implement Section 36 of the Municipal Financial Management Act in order to extend existing contracts.

We also can’t ignore the independent water sampling results released by test laboratory, Talbot, recently indicating exceptionally high e-coli readings along all the central beaches. These results were released together with the eThekwini municipality readings that in many cases reflect higher results when compared to other independent results.

Although at times the e-coli levels are reported to be low this is a clear indication that we still have extremely high levels of sewer effluent entering our coastal waters. Can we really afford take such a chance?

Action needs to be taken to not only protect our residents and visitors but to save the livelihoods of all who live off the benefits of tourism.

The Democratic Alliance will continue to apply pressure by seeing through our litigation against the city to ensure that the collapse of the city’s sewer infrastructure is urgently addressed.

Issued by Cllr Gavin Hegter - EThekwini DA Whip of Community Services Committee