Things falling apart at La Mercy Lagoon
What was once a weekend respite for families, where children could run freely and learn to swim in the safety of shallow water, is now just a reminder of better days.
Once a popular destination for fishermen, families and watersports, the La Mercy Lagoon recreation area has fallen into complete disrepair.
Pummeled by last year’s floods, large parts of the area now lie in the Mdloti River while little has been done to shore up the remaining infrastructure.
Residents report multiple pleas to the eThekwini Municipality, including from their ward councillor, but nothing has materialised in the year since.
The Lagoon Café overhangs an unrepaired river bank after half of its foundation was washed away, and what appears to be sewage runs into the water.
The main parking area has been blocked off for safety reasons, leading to increased cases of break-ins and other crimes when people are forced to park out of view from the lagoon.
A nearby toilet block is filled with long festering rubbish and shows signs of vagrancy. It is all but unusable.
What was once a weekend respite for families, where children could run freely and learn to swim in the safety of shallow water, is now just a reminder of better days.
One only needs to look at the Google Map image of the area, which shows a random day in November 2009 with a full car park and families enjoying the braai spot.
“We have constantly been told that the issues will be addressed by the municipality’s parks and gardens services but nothing happens. As much as it is sad for the La Mercy community, this was also a very popular location for kite surfers and paddling clubs that could park safely and use the river,” said La Mercy Ratepayers chairman, Ravi Ramsundar.
“It used to be a guarded area but we have seen a spate of criminal activity in the last six months to a year.”
And the spectre of E.coli looms large, given the history of the northern beaches since the floods.
Per the eThekwini Metro’s most recent water tests on July 17, Westbrook Beach remains closed while Umdloti Beach is safe and has almost no levels of detectable E.coli.
La Mercy is in between the two and does not have regular testing done.
The prevailing current brings water south from Westbrook towards Durban, which coupled with a La Mercy Lagoon that recently breached its mouth could make swimming at the beach unsafe.
The municipality did not respond to a request for comment.
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