Crystal clear conditions at Van Riebeeck Park swimming pool

It appears that all is on track for the African Swimming Confederation: Confédération Africaine de Natation (Cana) training camp, to be held at Van Riebeeck Park swimming pool between January 22 and 29.

The training camp will see around 2 000 swimmers from 40 African countries descend on Mbombela to take part in Cana, possibly bringing with it much-needed economic revenue for not only Mbombela, but Mpumalanga.

The camp will also see the well-known and renowned International Olympic Committee member and vice president of World Aquatics, Dr Sam Ramsamy, in attendance.

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The confirmation of the training camp follows a fruitful meeting at Mbombela Stadium on January 6 between members of Mpumalanga Swimming, Swimming South Africa, the City of Mbombela and the Mpumalanga Department of Culture, Sport and Recreation.

In December, Lowvelder reported that some Mbombela community members as well as parents and participants of the Mpumalanga Championships had alleged that the municipal pool was so dirty that some of the swimmers had refused to get in.

They told the paper that frogs had to be removed from the pool, and the competitors claimed they could not see the lines on the bottom as a result of the dirt.

Some of the parents, who wanted to remain anonymous, claimed the pool was not well maintained and did not meet the standards of hosting games.

However, when Lowvelder visited the pool on January 7 while the 2023 Grand Prix Invitational Swimming Meet was being held, the pool appeared crystal clear, and the area around it also well maintained.

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Mpumalanga Swimming’s Ronel Bekker said the recent meeting had been a positive one, in which the current and future maintenance of the pool had been discussed.

“We spoke about why swimming and these big swimming competitions and camps are important not only for the City, but for the province, too,” said Bekker.

“Mpumalanga is the preferred province to host these events because of its weather, the proximity to the bush and because it is more accessible to other African countries.

“Maintaining the pool is not only important for the sport, we feel it is also quite important for the province’s economic growth.”

Sibongile Nkosi of the Mpumalanga Department of Culture, Sport and Recreation said the department will always support any initiatives to bring more international games to the province. She said the department was invited to attend the meeting at the stadium as guests and that the relevant authorities to respond to media queries regarding the pool would be the City of Mbombela.

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The City of Mbombela’s spokesperson, Joseph Ngala, said the City is more than ready to host Cana following another successful training camp held earlier this year.

“The Van Riebeeck Park pool is clean and the water is crystal clear. The pool and other swimming pools are and will be maintained routinely by City officials as and when it is a needed,” he said.