Organised business and the hospitality sector in Durban are urging local government to swiftly and permanently fix sewerage infrastructure damaged by the April floods. They say the persistent opening and closing of beaches due to contamination could significantly harm tourism.
The latest closures of nearly 20 beaches over the past 10 days to two weeks affected a wide area, from the south of Durban to Westbrook on the north coast.
With the festive season just months away, Durban and surrounds are looking for a much-needed economic boost. Still reeling from the devastating floods and July 2021 riots, both of which caused tens of billions in damages, coastal areas are now dealing with regular beach closures due to sewage spills into the sea.
Some closures have lasted several months, putting much-needed recovery at risk.
Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, CEO of the Tourism Business Council of SA, said this week it was critical the crisis was resolved.
“We cannot have Durban without beaches in December. It is as simple as that. It would be catastrophic.”
Tshivhengwa said whether national, provincial or local government needed to sort out the crisis, it “must intervene” as Durban was “one of the most important destinations for people in South Africa”, with its beaches being major attractions.
We cannot have Durban without beaches in December. It is as simple as that. It would be catastrophic — Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, CEO, Tourism Business Council of SA
He said there was a “high number of accommodation stock” in the city that was “critical for the recovery of the tourism industry” and that this available stock was “supported by the beaches”.
The Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), which represents more than 3,000 businesses, said the public and private sector had to work together to “achieve a sustainable solution” as “the city does not have the financial resources to address the problem”.
The DCCI said its recent “site inspection” of the Ohlanga Outfall Sewer Pump Station indicated the “issue is far bigger than anticipated”, adding that “our sewerage network is not functional”.
“As organised business we are in discussions with the public sector to develop a PPP (public-private partnership) framework that will help solve the crisis. It’s high time government requests the support of the private sector.”
The DCCI said it was “deeply concerned about the frequency at which beaches are being closed”.
“The ongoing closure of Durban’s beaches creates a poor perception of Durban’s ability to manage its tourism infrastructure. Furthermore, it has the potential to affect the tourism sector and its entire value chain negatively,” it said.
Samantha Croft, director of operations for Southern Sun in KwaZulu-Natal, said the persistent beach closures were a “big worry” for the hotel sector, which wanted the eThekwini municipality to find a permanent fix for the infrastructure so sewage spills stop happening.
Apart from the upcoming festive season, school holidays at the end of September were also a busy domestic tourism period, underlining the importance of finding a solution quickly, said Croft.
Visitors staying in Umhlanga, where Southern Sun hotels include the Beverly Hills, now have to drive to Ballito, which has not been contaminated, or to Durban’s main beaches, she said.
And the latter are also subject to stop-start openings and closures, having only reopened last Thursday after being closed for several days.
Of the approximately 12 hotels Southern Sun owns in KwaZulu-Natal, six are in Durban and include The Edward and Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani on the beachfront.
At the weekend, the eThekwini Municipality said beaches that are now open include Bay, North, Wedge, South, Addington, uShaka, Point (Vetch’s), Brighton, Amanzimtoti Main, Pipeline, Warner, Winklespruit and Umgababa.
It said “testing confirmed that the water quality at these beaches is now at an acceptable standard”. Beaches that remain closed include eThekwini, Laguna, Ansteys, Reunion and Baggies.
Southern Sun CEO Marcel von Aulock said it was “great” that the eThekwini municipality had reopened a large number of beaches, but it was essential that the cause of the sewage spills be addressed and infrastructure properly fixed.
“You can’t have a situation where the next rainstorm ends up closing the beaches again.”
Whether the damage is “indicative of long-term bad maintenance that was brought to a head by the flooding or not, we don’t really know”.
“But the moral of the story is you can’t have this situation going on for months and months. It’s not acceptable. Whatever is causing this [needs to be fixed]. It (Durban and surrounds) is a coastal city, it is a tourism city, particularly local tourism, and it will detract from people’s experiences because they won’t be able to go onto the beach,” said Von Aulock.
Fortunately for Southern Sun, its bookings have not been affected as visitors were booking holidays with shorter lead-times as a result of Covid.
Croft said the trend of shorter lead-times, which developed because of the sudden disruption to travel plans during the various Covid waves, provided a bit of breathing room to fix the problems.
Asked to respond to the DCCI's concerns, the eThekwini Municipality referred Business Times to a September 6 statement which said: “The city’s water and sanitation infrastructure was extensively damaged after the April floods” and “unrelenting demand, ageing infrastructure and rampant vandalism have worsened the situation, leaving the water and sanitation unit with insufficient capacity to render adequate service delivery”.
Asked whether infrastructure would be fixed in time for the festive season, it said “repair work at our Northern Water Treatment work has been energised”, while “repair work at our sewage treatment plant in Sea Cow Lake and Johanna Road Pump Station is at an advanced stage”.
Its head of water and sanitation, Ednick Msweli, outlined “comprehensive interventions”. For instance, the municipality said there was good progress to finalise projects already under way, such as relining Durban Heights Reservoir 3, which is due for completion in November, and the Umbumbulu Pump Station, which is planned to be commissioned by the end of September.
Other projects include the R24bn Umkomazi project, the appointment of a contractor for Durban Water Recycling and a feasibility study of the Northern and KwaMashu wastewater treatment works.
An update to the city’s “existing 25-year master plan is under way” and would provide an ongoing basis for the “planning and budgeting for upgrades, new infrastructure and other interventions” that were aimed at “improving water conveyance and treatment”, the September 6 statement said.
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