City blames safety compliance for postponing Johannesburg’s public swimming season to 1 October, while communities criticise staffing, maintenance failures and neglected pools across the city.
If you are planning to start your swimming season at a municipal pool this month, pack away the towels and the sunscreen. Pools will open only on 1 October.
Barely a day before the city’s municipal pools were supposed to open for the 2026/27 swimming season, the department of community development released a statement saying the season has been postponed to next month.
The reason: “To ensure that all municipal swimming facilities meet the strict health, safety, and operational standards required to provide a safe environment for the public.”
The statement from MMC for community development Thapelo Amad said the official opening of public swimming pools, originally scheduled for 1 September 2026, has been postponed to 1 October 2026.
He said the City had “adopted a phased reopening approach with 36 pools opening in October, recognising that the condition and operational requirements of facilities vary across regions.”
“The City is actively working to resolve outstanding compliance and maintenance tasks over the next month. We thank our residents for their patience and understanding as we work to ensure our recreational spaces are safe for everyone this summer,” Amad said.
There are 57 municipal pools spread across the city’s regions. Last year, only 35 opened on 1 September, with a further 18 supposed to open later in the swimming season. Eventually, 37 municipal pools were open just before the festive season.
Johannesburg has five heated pools: Ellis Park, Linden, Pimville, Pioneer Park and Coronationville. Ellis Park had mechanical issues with the heating last year, and Coronationville remained closed as the heating mechanism was not working.
Linden’s heaters only worked from April this year after the community put pressure on the council to fix them.
Ward councillor Hendrik Bodenstein said members of the community helped expedite the procurement.
“The bigger problem now is that the fuses and breakers on the pole are cheap knockoffs, because City Power ‘can’t afford the real deal’. This means that they keep popping and the pool needs all three phases to properly heat,” he said.
He said members of the community had approached him, willing to sponsor modern heat pumps instead of the old gas boilers they currently use at the pool, as well as solar installations to assist in offsetting the running costs. Bodenstein said there had been little response from City officials.
An extensive list of questions was sent to Community Development last week, asking how many pools the City manages, how many will be opening on 1 September, and how many will open later in the season. Questions about the operating budget (which provides for chemicals), trained lifeguards and entry fees were also sent. No response was forthcoming, except for the media statement on Monday.
When asked for the list of 36 pools which will open on 1 October, the department said this would be released only at the start of October.
DA shadow MMC for community development Lyrics Mazibuko has written a letter to the department demanding answers on the delays. He said he was “particularly concerned that residents should not be left without access to recreational facilities for an extended period without clear information regarding the reasons for the delays, the condition of the facilities and realistic reopening timelines”.
“The explanation that the delay is due to health, safety and operational requirements cannot be used as a blanket excuse. These requirements are not unforeseen. The City knew for months that pools had to be maintained, inspected, staffed and prepared before the summer season.
“I am particularly concerned that the City appears to be shifting responsibility to operational processes when the real issue is the failure to plan and execute timeously. The City has already advertised seasonal positions for lifeguards and cashier or cloakroom attendants, demonstrating that the staffing requirement was known well in advance,” he said.
He said it was completely unacceptable for only 36 of the 57 public swimming pools to open. “Residents should not be expected to accept that 21 public swimming pools will remain closed at the start of the swimming season. These facilities are essential community infrastructure, particularly for children, young people and communities that depend on public recreational facilities.”
“The City must stop managing public facilities through last-minute crisis responses. Johannesburg needs proper preventative maintenance, timeous procurement and recruitment, clear accountability and measurable service delivery deadlines,” Mazibuko said.
Over the past week, Our City News has visited several pools in the city. This is what we found:
Zoo Lake pool is standing empty while the community fundraises to fix it. The pool has been closed for some time due to cracked pipes, run-down changing rooms and years of deferred maintenance. Community initiative, Friends of Zoo Lake Swimming Pool, last year launched a campaign to raise funds for urgent repairs and long-term upkeep.
Ellis Park, supposed to be a heated pool, is green and slimy and looks like a swamp. There are three pools: the heated Olympic pool, the kiddies splash pool and a “grown-ups” pool with lanes and a free-for-all area. The Ellis Park municipal swimming pool, opened on 16 January 1909, was the first public swimming pool built in Johannesburg. It played a big role in the history of swimming in southern Africa, being the venue for national championships since 1910, and also annual inter-high schools galas.
Verity Park in Parkhurst is a green soup. It’s a small kidney-shaped pool in Parkhurst’s most popular park.
Ochse Square in Albertsville looks “like hell”, according to photographer James Oatway.
The pool in Orlando West is the best of those we visited. You could see the bottom of the pool even though it was greenish in the middle. The paddle pool was empty.
The municipal pool in East Bank, Alex, looks like a swamp, too. It did not open on time last year.
Blairgowrie pool. This pool was renovated by the Blairgowrie Community Association (BCA) after striking an agreement with the city to do so.
The toilets have been repaired and are in good working condition, the broken basins have been restored and the signage has been updated and repainted. Taps and new door locks were installed, the lifeguard house was refurbished and new furniture was purchased.
It is sparkling blue, but cannot open due to the City’s deferment of the season. Ward councillor Bea Campbell Cloete said she had called both the director of community development and the MMC and was told there were not enough lifeguards to staff all the pools because the criteria had changed from Grade 10 to Grade 12.
“The problem we have with that is that there are two full-time lifeguards at Blairgowrie. Why are we disenfranchising a community that has fixed and is maintaining their pool; it’s in an immaculate condition and they should be opening it,” she said. DM
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