- Masked municipal workers on Wednesday patrolled the beaches on the Garden Route with a no-nonsense attitude.
- Buffalo Bay Caravan Park is packed with people now stuck in the facility, unable to use the beach right on their doorstep.
- The pristine and inviting beaches were deserted aside from a handful of fishermen, to whom the closure does not apply if they have a permit.
Municipal employees were on guard, from Knysna to George and further, on Reconciliation Day to ensure that nobody put a foot on the beaches, in accordance with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that the popular Garden Route coastline be closed.
On Wednesday, a beautiful day in the district, the pristine and inviting beaches were deserted aside from a handful of fishers, to whom the closure does not apply if they have a permit.
Red and white tape cordoned off the entrance to beaches like Buffalo Bay and Brenton Beach, which normally are busiest this time of year.
Ironically, the Buffalo Bay Caravan Park, on the rocks at Buffalo Bay and in spitting distance of the sand and sea, was packed.
Most people were at their holiday destination already when Monday’s beach ban was announced.
Here, camping and caravan folk wandered around inside the facility, with children playing together - just not on the beach - while adults tanned.
Inflatable paddling pools have also started popping up in the gardens of holiday homes in Brenton, Buffalo Bay and Sedgefield – all in eyesight of the beach.
Laurence Hoatson from Pietermaritzburg summed it up: "Buffalo Bay is our family home where all the children and grandchildren get together at Christmas. We were already here when the announcement was made to close the beaches, so we have to make the best of the situation.
"The way round the beach ban was to get a paddling pool for the children."
Hoatson said he had managed to snap up the last inflatable pool at a Knysna hardware shop on Tuesday for R2 700.
“We were lucky because I got the last pool out of the 12 they [the store] said they sold yesterday."
News24 saw other pools perched in holiday home gardens with the beach in spitting distance.
Just how many municipal workers are on beach duty is not clear yet, nor their working hours or any further details about these employees.
Plettenberg Bay is being policed in a similar fashion, but with lifeguards who would ordinarily have been saving lives now keeping people off the beach in accordance with their new mandate.
The George Municipality on Wednesday afternoon said its Law Enforcement officers were currently stationed at its various beaches to enforce municipal by-laws, such as ensuring that alcohol is not consumed. They were there "only to ensure safety measures remain in place at all public areas under our jurisdiction", read a statement by Chantèl Edwards-Klose, municipal communications manager.
"George Municipality has an obligation as a local authority to protect lives, and for that reason also as a precautionary measure, lifeguards will be on duty at all beaches within the George municipal area: Wilderness Main Beach, Leentjiesklip, Victoria Bay, Herold’s Bay and Gwaing Beach."
Knysna police spokesperson Chris Spies said they would be making sure the directive given by the president would be followed to the full letter of the law.
"We will be patrolling – working with the municipality – and people who break the law by going onto the beach will be prosecuted," he said.
Southern Cape police spokesperson Captain Malcolm Pojie said: "Police have already rolled out their festive season operational plans through strategic deployment of members and physical resources, including specialised units such as Public Order Police (POPS) and Cluster Crime Combatting teams to enforce adherence to the DMA Regulations within lockdown, as well as to see to general safety of all inhabitants."
And festive season policing now included beaches, said Pojie.