The Eastern Cape’s seaside towns put on a brave face on Tuesday, with tourism organisations quickly jumping in to emphasise that there were many other things to do in the province instead of hitting the beach, but the cancellations kept on coming. 

President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered the beach ban on Monday, 14 December as a part of stricter regulations to prevent the spread of coronavirus infections after a second wave hit several provinces. Ramaphosa said all beaches in the Eastern Cape would remain closed from 16 December for the duration of the festive season. The Garden Route’s beaches have also been closed, but KwaZulu-Natal’s beaches will be closed only on certain days. Other beaches in the Western Cape and Northern Cape will remain open.

Rick Pryce, the chairperson of Sunshine Coast Tourism based in Port Alfred, said they did not feel the blanket beach ban was “quite as sensible”.

“The decision will hurt this town immeasurably,” he said. “We already had people calling to cancel. It was a decision with a very serious impact. So people can’t go to the beach, but they can go to the shopping malls,” said Pryce.

He said Easter (when the country was in hard lockdown) and Christmas were the two busiest times of the year for the seaside towns. “This decision is devastating.”

Accommodation establishments from all over the province, including the Wild Coast with popular seaside towns like Coffee Bay and Haga-Haga, confirmed that they have had bookings for the festive season cancelled since the presidential announcement.

Mayor for Kouga Municipality Horatio Hendricks said they were not in agreement with the national directive to close all beaches and parks in the Eastern Cape and Garden Route District from 16 December to 3 January.

Kouga Municipality includes the popular seaside towns of Jeffreys Bay, Cape St Francis and St Francis Bay. The three towns fall under the Sarah Baartman District which Ramaphosa declared a Covid-19 hotspot.

“We are of the view that the closure of beaches and parks on specified dates only, as is the case for [KwaZulu-Natal] would have enabled a better balance between saving lives and saving livelihoods. 

“Unfortunately, the final decision was not ours to take and we now have to deal with the hand we’ve been dealt.” 

He said Kouga still had much to offer visitors, but the beach was the main attraction over the summer season. 

We are further awaiting clarity as to whether the closures affect all beach-related activities, as the Gazette only alludes to fishing, for which an exemption will be made for those in possession of a permit.

“The impact of the 19-day beach closure will be devastating [to] our local businesses, job retention and creation. In addition, there is concern that the closure of beaches and parks will simply lead to people congregating at other venues, including private residences, where the risk of infection is even higher. 

“We have raised our concerns with the premier. Early indications are that the chances of the national decision being reversed are slim and that there is little likelihood of local municipalities and law enforcement agencies, as well as affected businesses, receiving support [at] a provincial or national level. 

“We are further awaiting clarity as to whether the closures affect all beach-related activities, as the Gazette only alludes to fishing, for which an exemption will be made for those in possession of a permit. 

“We are also awaiting clarity as to whether the closure affects all bodies of water such as rivers and lagoons or only the sea,” he said. 

He said they would meet with law enforcement agencies to discuss the enforcement of the stricter regulations.

“Regardless of whether we are in agreement with the closure of beaches or not, the Covid-19 pandemic is a reality and safeguarding our communities remains the priority.”

“We will continue to do all in our power to curb the spread of the coronavirus and to keep our residents and visitors safe,” Hendriks said.

To add to the confusion, the mayor of Mossel Bay on the Garden Route, another Covid-19 hotspot, said that apart from fishing, surfing would be permitted.

Chairperson of Jeffreys Bay Tourism Deon Freemantle said they were trying to remain positive.

“At least the restaurants, clubs and pubs will still be open. We can still cater for most of our visitors’ needs.”

He said they would promote other activities in the area such as horse riding and hiking. “We will try to focus on what we can offer. There is nothing we can do to change their minds. The best we can offer now is a good sea view. You can still enjoy the sunset,” he said.

“We had a really bad year. Businesses in seaside towns depend on a good summer. But it is not going to be like that. We will still try our best. I am also in business. At the moment we are still seeing a lot of visitors and movement in the town. 

The Democratic Alliance’s Jane Cowley said the decision to close beaches in the province will “decimate the province’s fragile tourism industry that is already on the brink of collapse”.

“I have submitted parliamentary questions to [Eastern Cape] Premier Oscar Mabuyane, asking him what consultation, if any, was done with tourism representatives at a provincial level. Premier Mabuyane must also provide the scientific, epidemiological and economic data that was used to justify the stance taken. The truth is that the closure of our beaches goes against the scientific advice and recommendations made by medical experts and will be impossible to strictly enforce. We don’t want a repeat of scenes where young children are traumatised and dragged off the beaches,” she said.

The incidence rate of coronavirus infections in the Buffalo City metro is now the highest of the two metros in the province at 388/100,000, with Nelson Mandela Bay at 288/100,000. The incidence rate in the Sarah Baartman district, however, remains the highest in the province at 443/100,000.

Chairperson of the Nelson Mandela Bay Disaster Management Forum Shane Brown said nobody but fishermen with valid licences would be allowed on the beach. All public spaces including the popular braai areas along Marine Drive would be closed.

Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor Nqaba Bhanga said there would be no “walking or picnics. We need residents to comply as this is done for the well-being of everyone,” he said. 

A spokesperson for the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality said no surfing would be allowed.

We want to urge communities to adhere to this. You must put saving lives over fun.

Samkelo Ngwenya from the Buffalo City metro, based in East London, said they welcomed the decision to close beaches.

“We had already taken a decision to close the popular beaches [before the announcement],” he said. 

He said beaches would be barricaded and marshalls would make sure that nobody entered those areas. 

“We want to urge communities to adhere to this,” he said. “You must put saving lives over fun.”

Premier Oscar Mabuyane’s spokesperson Mvusi Sicwetsha organised a press briefing for Tuesday afternoon, but cancelled it 30 minutes later.

On Sunday, after a letter written by Mabuyane was leaked on social media, Sicwetsha confirmed that the province had asked for the beach ban, saying that it enjoyed the support of coastal town mayors. The ban had been part of the province’s festive season safety plan. 

The safety plan, however, refers to a campaign to “discourage and restrict the usually high numbers of people to visit our province’s beaches” and that “communication be intensified and further that leadership be cautiously deployed on the ground to explain the decisions of Cabinet and canvass support for additional measures put in place by the Provincial Command Council.”

The outbreak of coronavirus infections in the province remains serious with the latest report from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases stressing that the province’s two metros, Nelson Mandela Bay and Buffalo City, are still seeing high rates of infection.

“The burden of disease of the SARS-Cov-2 remains high in the two metros and the Sarah Baartman district. However, the number of newly diagnosed cases has increased in six districts but declined in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro and the Sarah Baartman District in the previous two weeks from the 22nd November to 05 December. 

The incidence rate of coronavirus infections in the Buffalo City metro is now the highest of the two metros in the province at 388/100,000, with Nelson Mandela Bay at 288/100,000. The incidence rate in the Sarah Baartman district, however, remains the highest in the province at 443/100,000.

The report states that there is now an increase in infections in areas that are part of the former Transkei, where there had been a low transmission rate for the past 14 weeks. 

The number of Covid-19 related deaths also have increased in the past two months, the report stated.

The report says the second wave of infections was driven by “poor compliance with the regulations by the communities, which includes failure to wear masks in public, lack of social distancing, and routine hand washing or sanitisation. The unbanning of the selling of liquor and opening of the taverns, unsupervised funerals have become public health risks, which may contribute to the spread of the disease. This continues to threaten the public health interventions and reverse the gains which have already been achieved,” the report said. DM/MC

Like what you’re reading? Sign up to the Maverick Citizen newsletter and get a weekly round-up sent to your inbox every Tuesday. Free. Because paywalls should not stop you from being informed.