The public swimming pool in Meyerton is in excellent condition with a beautiful garden and silvery clean water. (Photo: Gerhardus Geldenhuis)
The public swimming pool in Meyerton is in excellent condition with a beautiful garden and silvery clean water. It is one of the only operational municipal swimming pools in the entire Vaal Triangle and given Meyerton’s central location, it is hugely sought after.
However, the decay of official club structures in the Vaal Triangle is so far-reaching that parents now have to take their children to Germiston to be able to officially participate in provincial and national events.
SwimSmart Aquatics, a swimming club in the area, has been using the municipal facilities since 2023 on Mondays when the pool is closed to the public, as well as afternoons after school until 18:00. It is used with the courtesy of Herman Cordan, former assistant sports director at the Midvaal municipality.
The deal remained in place after Cordan took early retirement and Anele Majikija took over. Johan Venter is the sports director at the local authority.
However, repeated requests to Majikija to formalize the use of the pool by the club fell on deaf ears. He kept promising that it would be done, but took no further action. As a result, the relationship between him and the club began to sour.
(Photo: Gerhardus Geldenhuis)
In September last year, charging structures were suddenly changed to force parents accompanying their children to the pool to pay entry fees. After objections to this to the mayor’s committee member and Venter, permission was again granted to suspend this entrance fee.
Soon after, Majikija asked the swimming club to come up with an access control plan. A plan was worked out and put into action – only for Majikija to suspend the plan less than a week later.
After that, Majikija insisted on various documents such as police clearance, public liability insurance and competence as an instructor, which the swimming club immediately submitted. However, there was no acknowledgment of receipt.
On 9 November last year, the swimming club, with the aim of promoting swimming, hosted the first Midvaal Mile swimming event, with 300 swimmers and at least as many spectators. The club fully financed the event itself with the Midvaal municipality providing a starting banner. The organizers had to upload and return this banner themselves.
Peter Teixeira, mayor, was apparently so impressed with the event that he asked the organizers to send a presentation – with a vision for the promotion of swimming in the Midvaal area – directly to him.
This request was later touched upon at the relatively newly established sports council’s meeting, as well as in an e-mail on 26 November. Majikija argued in this that he was excluded, although the chairman of the sports council explained that the e-mail was sent directly to him at the request of the mayor.
On 13 January, Elzana Swanepoel, the club’s swimming coach, was urgently summoned. During this meeting, Majikija informed her that the club may no longer use the pool. Majikija then also turned up at the swimming pool during a coaching session and got involved in an alleged argument with the coach in front of parents and children.
The matter was taken further and brought back to the attention of the mayoral committee member and the mayor. The swimming club also approached their local DA councilor for help.
(Photo: Gerhardus Geldenhuis)
At a follow-up meeting on 14 January, in which the mayor was also involved, Teixeira instructed his team to find solutions to the dispute. However, this request came to nothing, apparently because Majikija did not respond to e-mails about it.
Dalene Nel, parent of one of the swimmers and secretary of the swimming club, bought two entrance tickets on January 27 – even though they had season tickets paid for by the club – so that her child could at least practice.
Nel says she was asked by the lifeguard to leave the premises half an hour after her child started training. When further enquired, the lifeguard reportedly said that Majikija had asked him to do so. Majikija also allegedly took pictures of the child while he was exercising.
According to Nel, she was told that Majikija threatened workers with written warnings because they were allowed at the pool. Nel says there were only two other members of the public present at the time of the specific training session and no one was prevented from using the pool.
Swanepoel resigned during the sports council’s meeting on February 10. According to her, Majikija told her after the meeting that they would never swim at the pool again.
The Midvaal municipality said in response to inquiries that its officials had not acted unlawfully at any stage. They also remain officially committed to trying to find a solution to the dispute.
(Photo: Gerhardus Geldenhuis)
