Mayor will take a dip when work is complete

Refurbishment of the public swimming pool in Makhado (Louis Trichardt) was officially launched on Tuesday this week.

The mayor of the Makhado Municipality hammer-tapped the tiles inside the swimming pool to announce the project worth nearly R500 000.

“Sports and recreation play an important part in people’s lives … we value and encourage members of the community to participate in sporting activities. Swimming is one of the important sporting codes,” said Mayor David Mutavhatsindi.

Standing inside the swimming pool during the function attended by about 20 people, the mayor made use of the opportunity to elaborate on the past elections. “We shall continue to launch projects like this,” Mutavhatsindi added. The swimming pool is in Ward 21, the ward of DA Cllr Brian du Plooy, who was also present.

The mayor, appearing in his orange overall, jokingly said that all present should start taking swimming lessons, since they would all be swimming at the opening of the pool. “I will definitely be wearing my swimming costume then,” Mutavhatsindi said.

The contractor and the scope of the project were announced by the acting technical director, Mr Lufuno Ragimana, who mentioned that the project was one that was supposed to have been tackled long ago. All the tiles of the swimming pool will be removed, after which it will be surfaced with poolcrete. The water pumps are still in a good condition but the electrical systems need replacement. The tender has been awarded to Moswobi Building Constructions of Makhado (Louis Trichardt), who subcontracted a company from Mokopane.

The project falls under community services, whose director, Mr Johannes Kanwendo, said that 30 June was the completion date. Kanwendo announced that the municipality had taken the shortage of water into consideration and that a service provider would be appointed to drill a borehole and put up tanks.

The question was raised about the possibility of extending the swimming pool to meet the national standards for swimming galas while the work was in progress. Kanwendo answered that the municipality would look into the possibility of having a swimming pool of the correct measurements in the next financial year or having more than one throughout the region. “We will be loading that on our MIG [Municipal Infrastructure Grant],” Kanwendo said.

The municipality said that the steering committee would consist of stakeholders such as the school,  swimming clubs and others. When Louis Trichardt High School was approached about assisting with the management of the swimming pool and serving on the steering committee a few weeks ago, they acted immediately and approached the relevant people in the swimming sporting code to prepare themselves to serve on the committee.

Date:23 May 2014

By: Linda van der Westhuizen

Linda van der Westhuizen has been with Zoutnet since 2001. She has a heart for God, people and their stories. Linda believes that every person is unique and has a special story to tell. It follows logically that human interest stories is her speciality. Linda finds working with people and their leaders in the economic, educational, spiritual and political arena very rewarding. “I have a special interest in what God is doing in our town, province and nation and what He wants us to become,” says Linda.

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