A ONCE beautiful public swimming pool has been turned into a squalid squatter camp.
The Murray Park public swimming pool in Belgravia, Johannesburg, is filled with putrid water , tall weeds and litter.
Mthunzi Ndlovu, 39, is one of close to 40 men, women and children who live on the pool's premises. He and other squatters have set up camp inside the change rooms while others have erected shacks on the property.
Mthunzi said he moved to the facility in 2007, two years after the pool was closed.
"This place has become much safer since we moved in. Before it used to be a hide-out for criminals and women were raped here," said Mthunzi.
Another resident, Ntombizodwa Maduna, pointed out a drain pipe near the large pool which they had to close with a wooden board after a child fell in last year. Fortunately, the fall was not fatal.
"It is not safe for our children, but we have nowhere else to go. We have tried to get the water out with buckets, but it comes in from the other side, keeping the pool full. Sometimes the children dip their feet into the dirty water," Maduna said.
Lyrics Mazibuko, a councillor who sits on City of Johannesburg's community development committee, fears this will be the fate of many public swimming pools if conditions do not change.
Mazibuko said although millions were budgeted for the upkeep of swimming facilities, most were in bad shape.
He said a recent oversight visit to 20 swimming pools revealed a flurry of maintenance issues including broken pipes, benches and dirty toilets.
"It doesn't make sense that so much money is being invested into pools, and still some are being closed.
"If communities are not benefiting then we are wasting money," Mazibuko said.
The city owns 58 pools. The Malvern swimming pool was closed for renovations just as swimming season began last week. It is one of 10 pools currently being renovated.
The council's head of community development Chris Vondo said this year was an improvement from 2013 where only 27 facilities were operating.
mahopoz@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
Squatters take over neglected public pool - more facilities face closure
A ONCE beautiful public swimming pool has been turned into a squalid squatter camp.
The Murray Park public swimming pool in Belgravia, Johannesburg, is filled with putrid water , tall weeds and litter.
Mthunzi Ndlovu, 39, is one of close to 40 men, women and children who live on the pool's premises. He and other squatters have set up camp inside the change rooms while others have erected shacks on the property.
Mthunzi said he moved to the facility in 2007, two years after the pool was closed.
"This place has become much safer since we moved in. Before it used to be a hide-out for criminals and women were raped here," said Mthunzi.
Another resident, Ntombizodwa Maduna, pointed out a drain pipe near the large pool which they had to close with a wooden board after a child fell in last year. Fortunately, the fall was not fatal.
"It is not safe for our children, but we have nowhere else to go. We have tried to get the water out with buckets, but it comes in from the other side, keeping the pool full. Sometimes the children dip their feet into the dirty water," Maduna said.
Lyrics Mazibuko, a councillor who sits on City of Johannesburg's community development committee, fears this will be the fate of many public swimming pools if conditions do not change.
Mazibuko said although millions were budgeted for the upkeep of swimming facilities, most were in bad shape.
He said a recent oversight visit to 20 swimming pools revealed a flurry of maintenance issues including broken pipes, benches and dirty toilets.
"It doesn't make sense that so much money is being invested into pools, and still some are being closed.
"If communities are not benefiting then we are wasting money," Mazibuko said.
The city owns 58 pools. The Malvern swimming pool was closed for renovations just as swimming season began last week. It is one of 10 pools currently being renovated.
The council's head of community development Chris Vondo said this year was an improvement from 2013 where only 27 facilities were operating.
mahopoz@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
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