MyPE

Community Business Directory, Event Listings, News and Views from Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay

Newton Park Pool – Green with Envy?

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The Newton Park swimming pool turned green on Monday disrupting the competition schedule and causing difficulties for swimmers due to poor visibility.

South Africa’s top swimmers, including Roland Schoeman, are competing in this event and are forced to swim in unfavourable conditions. Schoeman is quoted as saying the water condition had “profound effects on swimmers aiming for qualifying times”.

It is likely that lack of maintenance and inadequate budget provision are the causes of an incident that should never have occurred. The budget before council has allocated no money to swimming pools for capital projects for the next two years while aging equipment at many facilities, such as Newton Park, require significant rehabilitation.

The municipality must ensure that our facilities are kept in excellent condition in order to attract events like the SA Swimming Championships in the future. Hundreds of spectators and competitors attending sporting events boost our local economy and we must ensure that we deliver quality services in order to keep them coming back. This incident is an embarrassment to a city with a proud aquatic history.

I will be taking this matter up with the Executive Director of Economic Development and Recreational Services, Mr Zolile Siswana, to highlight the need for increased budget provision for our swimming pools.

Andrew Whitfield

Green Newton Park Pool
Green Newton Park Pool
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Port Elizabethan

This author is a 'catch-all' for occasional articles and letters written to MyPE. The Author of each article can be found in the signature at the bottom of each individual article.