Some of Durban’s most popular beaches are closed due to fears of shark attacks.
The heavy storms and rough seas during last week’s erratic weather has left many shark nets damaged, forcing the Ethekwini municipality to close beaches for safety.
Ethekwini’s head of parks and recreation, Themba Ngcobo, said that the municipality was still assessing the damage, and the beaches would be opened as and when the repairs were completed.
Mr Ngcobo said, “We had to take this decision to close the beaches to assess and fix the damage, we have called on the Sharks Board to help us repair the nets.” He also said, “In cases where this is done quickly, we will open those beaches and close those where work is still under way. “We don’t know how long this would take but we will be working very hard to ensure that these beaches are open by the start of the holiday season.”
Currently, the beaches that are still open are: Umhlanga Beach, north of Durban, Amanzimtoti and Winkelspruit along the south. These beaches will remain open as work is done on damaged nets at other beaches.