Public drinking wrecks beach

JON HOUZET

THOUSANDS of New Year revellers drank openly in public and trashed Port Alfred’s beaches and braai areas despite assurances by police and the municipality they would clamp down this year.

Rain put a damper on festivities on New Year’s Day which saw fewer people than usual at Port Alfred’s beaches, but throngs of revellers still partied hard at the town’s braai areas and in the Heritage Mall parking lot, where carloads of people drank alcohol in their vehicles and a long queue waited to get into the Pick n Pay liquor store.

Although police turned a blind eye to the vast majority of public drinking, they made 20 arrests for drunk and disorderly behaviour, with one incident turning nasty in the West Beach parking lot when a few drunk revellers resisted arrest.

"The SAPS’ main focus on the day was safety and security,” said police spokesman Lieutenant Luvuyo Mjekula.

"SAPS concentrated on people who were causing problems and were a risk to themselves and others. They were removed and detained. After they had sobered up, relevant fines were issued and they were released,” he said.

Contradicting earlier promises by mayor Sipho Tandani and the police that no liquor would be allowed on the beach, Mjekula said: "Port Alfred does not have metro police to enforce bylaws like it happens in cities like Cape Town and Durban.”

Police were not part of access control to the beaches, he added. Control points were manned by traffic officials in accordance with a plan approved by council.

The municipality deployed 20 volunteers to help enforce the bylaws, but they appeared to have made no impact on the public drinking spree.

At an earlier planning meeting for New Year’s Day, Captain Jacques Barkhuizen, who filled in for station commander Colonel Lizette Zeelie, said no camping would be allowed along the Kowie River, but TotT came across several impromptu campsites.

Mjekula said people camping in tents were "approached by the SAPS and warned”. No further action was taken.

Aside from public drinking and the arrests made for drunk and disorderly behaviour, no incidents of crime were reported, he said.

"The public’s response was generally positive and Colonel Zeelie would like to thank the crowds for their good spirit as that made sure we had an incident-free New Year’s Day.”

Coast Care beach cleaners started early on January 2 and by 7.30am had filled hundreds of refuse bags with bottles, cans and other litter collected from West Beach, the parking lot and the Beach Road braai pens. Broken glass still lay on the grass and tar.

During a five minute walk on the beach TotT came across still more beer cans and assorted beer and spirit bottles, some of them smashed, the shards posing a hazard for unsuspecting beachgoers.

A walk along West Pier revealed more broken bottles, accompanied by the stench of human faeces.

A reveller also defecated at the top of the boardwalk at Kelly’s Blue Flag Beach, with strips of newspaper used as toilet paper. A Coast Care worker later removed the excrement with a spade.

Municipal spokesman Cecil Mbolekwa said the municipality was still putting together an assessment report for how New Year’s Day went.