Residents concerned at heavy-scale Nahoon Beach partying

In the past two weeks Nahoon residents have become increasingly frustrated over the state of the Nahoon Beach as revellers party like there is no tomorrow.

Resident Brad Johnson said it was not rare to find big groups of people drinking and partying in the parking lots on a regular basis.

“It’s been quite bad since about October and as lockdown regulations lifted it’s  been getting worse, especially because Ebuhlanti [Marina Glen] is still closed and people are coming here instead,” Johnson said.

He said the two main issues were drinking in public and littering on the beach.

“We frequent the beach regularly, running or walking with our dogs,” he said.

 “There’s always a huge amount of litter left over, the majority of which is booze bottles and cans.

“But there’s also a concern that as more and more people congregate on the beach to drink and party, accidents and fights will happen.”

A spate of Facebook posts and comments on the Save Nahoon Facebook page paint a similar, if not worse picture, citing damage to municipal property, littering and drunkenness.

One post reads: “This is not on!!! We were also down on the beach late yesterday afternoon, heaps of parties going on at Lifesavers and Corner side. Drunk people throwing glass bottles all over the place, sitting in groups all smoking out of the same Hookah pipe!!!”

Some people say wooden structures near the river are being used by revellers to start fires.

Another post refers to an incident where a surfer was allegedly threatened and harassed by a reveller last week.

The post reads: “Ending a session by being harassed, threatened to be killed and then being the victim of a hit and run in the Nahoon corner parking lot after a surf. Friends and family BE CAREFUL and have self defence at hand.”

Jason McDowell, councillor for ward 18 which includes Nahoon, said he feared similar incidents would occur more regularly should nothing be done to police and patrol the beaches.

“I can’t comment on the hit-and-run incident because I haven’t had any reports and I wasn’t there, but I do think similar incidents may happen more regularly if nothing is done,” McDowell said.

He said he had been reporting the issue of public drinking to BCM for the past year and had requested regular patrols on the beaches and surrounding areas.

“Drinking in public at the beaches has been an issue since last year, but it has escalated as we’ve come out of lockdown levels.

“I brought up the issue with BCM again about a month ago, but now with the good weather and festive season it’s just exploding.

“Excessive drinking is the main problem because it leads to all the other issues, including destruction of property, littering and social disturbance.”

He said the worst affected areas were the Reef and Corner parking lots, with big groups of people gathering on weekends mainly, but that there were smaller parties happening on the beaches almost every day.

McDowell said public beaches were still closed for swimming because there were no lifeguards on duty due to Covid-19. 

“It could be a disaster unless we have proper and constant policing,” he said.

Ebuhlanti was closed earlier this year as part of a series of measures taken by BCM to clamp down on any potential spread of the coronavirus in the metro.

DispatchLIVE reported in October that the popular party spot’s closure had led revellers with a liking for public drinking and playing loud music to the area around the German Settler monument and Heroes Park on the beachfront.

Questions sent to BCM spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya were not responded to by the time of print, despite multiple attempts to make contact.

DispatchLIVE