The DA in Thulamela has written to Acting Municipal Manager, Ms Matshivha, to urgently address four Thulamela swimming pools that have been lying idle for almost a decade.
The pools have been grossly mismanaged and neglected, and are now abandoned, dilapidated and in a very bad state. The DA is concerned that these swimming pools represent a waste of limited municipal resources. View photos here, here, here and here.
The swimming pools constructed at Tshifulanani, Tshifudi, Tshikombani, and Makhuvha stadiums were built with the sole aim of empowering locals more especially the youth to participate in swimming, but a decade later and none of the communities have benefitted.
For a long time, the community has been raising questions as to when their children will start with their swimming lessons. The neglected and dilapidated facilities now pose a danger to communities and have become a breeding ground for mosquitoes and harmful bacteria and contaminated water that pose a risk to community members.
During the 2023/24 financial year, the Thulamela Municipal Public Accounts Committee oversight visits raised the same concerns, and the manager of sports indicated that because of financial constraints and the inability to hire people, they would rope in and make use of military officials to teach community members to swim, and till today that has not happened.
These swimming pools have proven to be wasteful expenditure and represent no value for money spent as the swimming pools have never been in use and offer no benefit to the people of Thulamela. It raises questions as to whether the swimming pools included in the scope of work of the stadiums were ever needed by communities or to benefit certain companies doing business with the municipality.
The people of Thulamela deserve well maintained, functional facilities that benefit the community. The DA will continue to monitor this situation until it has been addressed.