Summer is on our door step and in preparation for it, the MMC for Community Development, councillor Nonhlanhla Sifumba, will embark on an oversight visit at the City of Johannesburg’s Swimming Pools and Recreation Centres. All the swimming pools and recreational facilities in the City are managed by the Sports and Recreation Directorate, which falls under the Community Development Department.
Most City pools are open during the spring and summer seasons from 1 September to 31 March of the following year, to allow the residents of the City the opportunity to cool down at the pools.
“This offers a valuable service, especially to the residents who do not have access to swimming pools at their homes or complexes. This also gives employment opportunities to seasonal workers who benefit from working in the pools around this time. The heated pools are open throughout the year, but there are only a few of these,” Sifumba said.
The “cold” pools are closed in the autumn and winter seasons to allow for routine and major repairs in order to ensure that they are ready for use by bathers during the swimming season.
Sifumba’s inspection of the pools is an initiative she started in her first year as MMC for Community Development, to ensure that all repairs and maintenance that needed to be carried out in the pools had been carried out, and to follow up where there were issues that may lead to the pools not opening on 1 September as expected.
MMC Sifumba went on to state that the oversight proved valuable in reaching the 90 per cent target as most of the issues that were identified in the pools were addressed before the opening of the season – ensuring that the pools were opened on time, for the first time in the history of the City.
“The 90 per cent achievement last year was quite encouraging and heartening, as it demonstrated the City’s resolve to offer professional services with pride, and to offer services that are pro-poor. This year, I have revised the target upward, and aim to ensure that at least 95 per cent of the pools are opened at the beginning of the swimming season,” stated Sifumba.
“The oversight of the pools will be even bigger this year, as I will be combining them with the oversight of the recreation centres, which also fall under my portfolio. The City has decentralised the repairs and maintenance function to the owners of the facilities to ensure that the required repairs are carried out with the urgency they deserve. This is a challenge, but it is one we are going to tackle head-on for the benefit of our residents,” Sifumba said.
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