The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Tshwane will propose a motion to the City’s Council on the opening of municipal swimming pools.
Pools were initially closed in 2024 as a temporary measure during water shortages, but this closure has become permanent. The City has not given a clear explanation for keeping all the municipal pools closed for such a prolonged period, additionally no other metro has taken such an approach.
Even during the height of the Day Zero risk, the City of Cape Town kept a number of its municipal pools open while closing others.
The permanent closure of Tshwane pools has meant that residents who don’t have access to private gyms have been left high and dry.
The closures have kept professional and school level swimming galas from being hosted in the City, swim coaches from running their businesses, and deprived ordinary residents of a municipal facility for which they pay rates and taxes.
While Tshwane has now decided to open pools, there is no clear policy directing officials as to when pools must open, nor when they should be closed. The DA motion will propose such a policy.
Today, former SA Navy Chief of Staff under the Mbeki administration, Rear Admiral Rusty Higgs joined me at Hillcrest Swimming Pool. He was ready to take a swim.
We were told that the city has failed to procure chlorine, alternatively that the City’s supplier couldn’t deliver. And so, the pool could not be opened. Tshwane remains the only metro in Gauteng that is unable to open municipal pools for use by the public. We will ask that the City give a clear indication to the public when pools will be opened.