While scores of people are expected to flock to East London beaches during the school holidays, the appalling state of many of the city’s beach public amenities means they are not fit for use by the public, largely because the toilets are regularly targeted by vandals.
On a visit to ablution facilities at East London beaches this week, the Dispatch team found: Gonubie Beach: toilets were vandalised or completely destroyed;
Bonza Bay Beach: windows were broken and taps leaked;
Nahoon Beach: toilets were in a filthy condition with broken seats;
Eastern Beach: showers were not working on Wednesday;
Leaches Bay: toilets were occupied by vagrants; and
Public toilets at the popular East London hangout spot Ebuhlanti, Eastern Beach, have remain closed since the festive season, leaving scores of people who frequent the spot without any toilet facility. As a result, people relieve themselves in the open. Acts of vandalism continued at Gonubie Beach this week. On Monday, the ladies’ cubicles had their doors and covers smashed to pieces and cisterns were ripped off the wall, leaving the water running unchecked.
A BCM worker, who did not want to be named, said the vandals continued destroying the toilets on Tuesday evening, although no one had actually seen who damaged the toilets.
Gonubie resident John Thompson was walking with his wife on Tuesday morning when he first came across the damage.
“My wife and I go down to the beach every morning to either walk or swim and when we arrived on Tuesday morning we heard water running just after 7am. We went to investigate and found the ladies toilets damaged.
“The gentlemen’s toilets have been abandoned for a while, but the devastation in the ladies’ toilets was absolute. Who ever did that went in to cause major damage.”..