Durban — ActionSA in KwaZulu-Natal has called for the eThekwini Municipality to close all beaches pending an investigation into the recent drownings at North Beach which claimed the lives of three people and left 17 injured.
The party also said that Lifesaving South Africa was irregularly appointed and that it was not accredited.
ActionSA KZN chairperson Zwakele Mncwango said: “While we do not want lifeguards to lose their jobs and individuals whose livelihood depends on the opening of beaches to be without a means to support themselves, ActionSA believes that there were measures that should have been put in place to avoid the accident from occurring. Sadly, the municipality failed to put these measures in place.”
He said that in a leaked report, the City’s Integrity and Investigation Unit received an anonymous complaint alleging irregular appointment of a service provider, Lifesaving South Africa, a non-profit organisation (NPO) used by the municipality to train lifeguards.
“It was brought forward that the NPO was not accredited by the South African Qualifications Authority, Health & Welfare Sector Education and Training Authority, nor the Department of Labour,” Mncwango said.
“The report concluded that the lifeguard certificates issued by Lifesaving SA do not meet the standards of the Department of Labour, and therefore should be considered invalid.”
Mncwango said that the report recommended appointing an accredited service provider.
“However, the municipality did not adhere to its own recommendations, and for this reason, ActionSA strongly advocates for the closure of beaches while we await investigation findings, to avoid putting more lives at risk,” Mncwango said.
He said that ActionSA would work tirelessly to uproot issues of incompetence within the municipality in an effort to fight unethical leadership that has brought the city to its knees.
Lifesaving South Africa has been approached for comment.
According to Lifesaving South Africa, it is the National Association for Lifesaving and Lifesaving in Sport in South Africa.
Here are a few things to know about Lifesaving South Africa:
• Lifesaving SA (LSA) was established in South Africa in 1913. LSA is a member of the International Life Saving Federation (ILS), Commonwealth Lifesaving and Royal Lifesaving Society.
• LSA has over 8 000 members, with 4 000+ performing voluntary lifeguard duties operating at 60+ coastal (surf) clubs and 22 inland (pool and dam) venues. It has more than 2 500 Nippers (aged 8–14 years old).
•About 131 723 rescues have been performed to date, and more than 5 000 (per annum) first-aid cases are attended to by the voluntary lifeguards annually.
• LSA trains about 1 000 lifeguards per year and has reached more than 400 communities through their water safety education programmes.
• LSA is a SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee affiliated sporting federation.
• LSA won sports federation of the year in 2017 at the SA Sports Awards and is the only sport that requires community service to compete in the sport.
• LSA voluntary lifeguards contributed 125 761 duty hours in 2019/2020.
• Based on municipality Sunday rate per hour, this equates to R24 322 177 value added to the local communities, sporting industries and tourism through voluntary hours given.
• LSA is a non-profit organisation 002-584NPO and public benefit organisation 18/11/13/1112.
Daily News