Public swimming pool still not open

The pool which has been marred by various issues since 2015, such as leaks and the failure to appoint a permanent lifeguard, will remain closed until one is appointed. This is according to Greater Tzaneen Municipality (GTM) spokesperson, Neville Ndlala, who said the issues that previously hampered opening were resolved, except for the lifeguard which has been a longstanding issue.

“Due to swimming being seasonal, we close during winter and reopen on September 1, but due to Covid-19 last year we did not open. This year we are still stuck with the lifeguard issue and we cannot open without a qualified lifeguard. “Lifeguards are hard to find locally, previously when we advertised the post we had about five applications and only two qualified and they were not local. So we are trying to finalise the recruitment process and once done we will open the pool to the public.

He said GTM could not appoint someone because of the unpredictable nature of the virus. 

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“Since we are now on alert level one, we are willing to open it,” Ndlala said.

He said they understand the need by the public to use the pool hence they were looking at different options. “We had started a programme to train and develop locals in being lifeguards so we do not suffer when we open other pools in the future, but people dropped out of the programme,” said Ndlala.