Why were we stopped from braaing?

I write this email totally angry at what happened to me and my family on Monday at Thompsons Bay Beach.

We went to the beach to have a braai with my family. After we had lit up our braai, a lifesaver named Langa demanded we leave the beach at once and go braai elsewhere. Other families at the beach told us not to leave as people had been braaing at that beach a day before.

I asked Langa to allow us continue our braai as the coal was on fire but we were forced to pick it up and walk all the way back to out vehicle with a burning braai stand. My kids, parents and extended family had to swim and not eat anything because the last money we had was spent on meat we were going to braai.

This is what gets me – about two hours later three white kids came and had a braai exactly where we were seated and not one of the lifeguards came to lecture or chuck them out.

This act really broke my heart. Ballito is my home town, but if racial acts like this are taking place I would rather not want to be a part of it any more, neither will I advise my colleagues to visit the area.

Lifeguards are there to save our lives, not swear at us and treat us like barbarians. I do intend on escalating this to Langa’s supervisor.

RichardsBay

Municipal spokesman Sphelelo Ngobese replies:

We wish to extend our heartfelt apology to the complainant. We now believe that the team deployed at Thompson’s Bay acted inconsistently by not detailing the laws that have been set by Council in terms of the utilization of certain facilities in our beaches and parks.

Council has put in place by-laws which serve to restrict certain activities on certain areas for the protection of public health. Nonetheless, we are much concerned about the handling of the matter which we believe was wrong.

What our lifeguards did not pay much attention to was the fact that visitors don’t know all the laws. Again, what Naidoo did not fully understand was the fact that the municipality, as a local authority is charged with the powers of enforcing its laws accordingly.

The preparation and cooking of food in or at a public amenity shall be done in a clean and sanitary manner so as not to give rise to excessive smoke or other nuisances or entail any danger to health. Having a braai on grass in our beach-parks is prohibited but we do make exceptions on some areas covered in concrete during busy seasons.

As you enter Thompsons Bay, you will find municipal signage indicating all public safety and health laws: No fires, no dogs, no fishing and camping etc.

On that day the supervisor was called by one of the lifeguards to assist the Naidoo family to desist from having their braai-stand in the section of the park which was grassed. We can’t allow public to braai on the beach and on the grass areas.

Another family had their braai-stand in a different area (not at the same spot where they had been) and started fighting and swearing at the lifeguards.

We agree that an alternative solution could have been worked out. During the festive season we have been allowing people to braai on the concrete area but the influx of guests makes it hard to control.

We don’t encourage our lifeguards to chase the public away from our beaches. They don’t have the authority to do so . If they face difficult situations we urge them to make use of our control room to get the relevant officials to take over. The same goes with the public, the immediate supervisor can attend if such incidents ever occur in future.