Statement by Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Health, Councillor Zahid Badroodien
The South African Weather Service has indicated that strong winds and excessive wave heights are likely to be prevalent along the coastline over the next few days.
Coupled with the spring tide expected on Christmas and Boxing Day, high tides will likely be higher than normal.
With this in mind, I urge people visiting our coast to exercise extreme caution.
We know that Boxing Day is traditionally one of our busiest beach days, but with less than ideal weather conditions on the cards, this could well affect the turnout.
Notwithstanding, our lifeguards will be at their posts to assist members of the public who venture into the water.
We remind beachgoers of our four key safety messages:
Do not drink and swim
Do not leave children unsupervised
Be aware of rip currents
Only swim between the flags where lifeguards are present
Already we have had 12 fatal drowning incidents this summer.
In recent days, our lifeguards have assisted in at least three incidents where persons got into trouble:
A five-year-old girl was swept off her feet by a wave at Blue Waters on Saturday 21 December. Lifeguards recovered her from the water and no further assistance was required
On Monday 23 December, another five-year-old girl was retrieved from Sea Point swimming pool and received further treatment in the First-Aid room before being transported to Red Cross Children’s Hospital
Later the same day, an adult male lost his footing in knee-deep water and required assistance to stand up and get out of the water.
The City will do everything possible to ensure that no further lives are lost.
We do however need the public to play their part and to listen to the instructions of our lifeguards, the NSRI as well as other City agencies on duty on and around our beaches, swimming pools and other public amenities.
Residents are also reminded that we have the Identikidz project running at 16 of our beaches. They can have their children fitted with an armband upon arrival so that we can ensure that they are found and returned speedily in the event that they wander off and get lost.
Since the launch of the Identikidz project earlier this month, nearly 32 000 children have been tagged at participating beaches.
We thank those parents and caregivers who have made use of the programme, and we encourage others to follow suit.
The Identikidz staffers are clearly identifiable in their orange t-shirts and I urge beachgoers to look out for them when they arrive at one of the following beaches: Mnandi, Monwabisi, Strand, Harmony Park, Gordon’s Bay, Silwerstroom, Melkbosstrand, Big Bay, Milnerton Beach, Lagoon Beach, Sea Point, Maiden’s Cove, Camps Bay, Fish Hoek, Muizenberg and Strandfontein.
Source: City Of Cape Town