Umhlali Ski Boat Club members took to the streets on Saturday, protesting 18 months without access to the historic Tinley Manor launch site.

Led by acting club chairman John van Rooyen, the 25-strong group drove in convoy from the Tinley Manor off-ramp towards Club Med, before gathering near the former beach access road, which is now closed to public cars. They intended to hand over a memorandum to an invited KwaDukuza municipality (KDM) representative, but no officials arrived.

Van Rooyen said they had believed the closure to be temporary while the resort was under construction.
“We want to stress that our fight is not with Club Med. The municipality runs the launch site and it is they who need to come to the party on figuring out access,” he said.

While KDM manages the launch site, it is understood access now runs through private land owned by Tinley Leisure, where Club Med is situated. An access agreement existed with former landowner Tongaat Hulett, but the Courier understands there is no equivalent agreement with Tinley Leisure.

Van Rooyen said the club met KDM officials in April and presented “practical options to restore access,” but had received no response to its proposals or indication of timeframes. The Courier reported after KwaDukuza’s June council meeting that the municipality was considering alternative sites.

Saturday’s protesters included founding members Marc de Charmoy and Jeff Blesovsky, who formalised the club and launch site with Peter Seymour, Rob Heenan, Beyrick Jackson and Doug Tweedie in the early 1970s.

“There’s more than 50 years of heritage here and the club is a well-known part of the community,” said De Charmoy.

“A few of us also bought cottages in the area, based on the knowledge that we could launch if we wanted to. Now they’re just white elephants in a desert.”

Another club member said launching elsewhere can be costly, while Tinley Manor’s protected bay offered safer launching conditions.

“If I want to go out at another club, I might have to pay R300 to launch as a visitor and another R350 for use of the tractor. Even still, you might not be able to launch at all as club members will have priority and each club has daily limits.”

Neither KDM nor Club Med had responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.