Day at the beach ruined

Saturday November 29 started off partly cloudy on the KZN North Coast, but soon turned into a near perfect beach day.

We arrived at the beautiful Thompson’s Bay beach mid-morning, and it was pristine and gorgeous, indeed the kind of beach that should challenge for Blue Flag status.

The early majority of beach goers were matrics – black, white, indian – clearly nursing hangovers, and families with numerous little kids running around.

The life savers were there in full force, all built like Siya Kolisi, and called into decisive action early on. In short, idyllic, and what South Africans have come to expect from our fantastic coast line.

However, a few short hours later, just after mid-day, an announcement rang from the life guard house above the tidal pool.

The life guard – in a somewhat panicked tone – instructed everybody to immediately leave the water, and absolutely avoid coming into contact with the river flowing into the sea on the right hand side of the beach, as raw sewage was rapidly spilling down the river and into the sea.

We knew he was not lying, since the stench was immediately and awfully overpowering.

From being picture postcard a few minutes earlier, the sea turned first into a murky green, then murky brown.

The life guard flags were folded, and everybody rather dejectedly left the beach.

On a weekend of rolling electricity black-outs, we asked ourselves where it will all end, as we attempted to make sense of it to those tiny South Africans, our children.

Cry the beloved country.

ANTON VAN METZINGER

Ballito